14 DAY TRIAL // Asus is not interested in building a tablet using a screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, similar to that of the iPad, in the near future, as the company believes this would lead to an important increase in the production costs of the tablet.
When asked during a local press event if Asus has any plans for such a tablet, a company official said that Taiwanese hardware maker isn’t currently interested in developing such a product.
The main problem, according to the same Asus rep, is that the supply of 4:3 panels is limited at this time, with most of the screens manufactured going towards Apple.
If Asus would want to develop such a product it would be forced to compete with the Cupertino-based company for the panels available in the supply market.
This would be an issue for Asus since it can’t reach the volumes that Apple is pushing into the market, which would force it to pay more for such panels.
This would lead to higher fabrication costs which in turn would increase the final prices of the products built using them.
Asus’ current tablets, as well as the upcoming Prime, use displays with an aspect ratio of 16:10 which is great for multimedia use (especially for watching video), but isn’t as good for productivity work or Web browsing according to some.
Other major tablet manufacturers also use the 16:10 aspect ratio for their screens, even if they measure 7- or 10-inches in diagonal.
Outside of Apple, the use of 4:3 screens in tablets is limited to a couple of small manufacturers that don’t require a constant supply of panels and that can work with whatever stock remains after Apple’s orders are fulfilled.
If things don’t change in the near future, and we don’t expect them to, it seems like Android tablet makers will have to limit themselves to using 16:10 screens in their products.