14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is backtracking on its decision to reduce reliance on rival electronics vendor Samsung as it faces production bottlenecks in the iPad supply chain. iPad mini supplies are the most affected.
As Sharp and other Japan-based Retina display makers are failing to meet the capacity demanded by Apple, the Cupertino giant has been left with no choice but to turn to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, which has the brains and the power to produce immense quantities of high-quality panels for use in the new wave of iPads introduced last month.
Apple may or may not be pleased with the situation, but Samsung appears to have accepted the company’s business, despite increasing tensions between the two rivaling smartphone makers.
According to Japanese business newspaper Nikkei (via Google Translate), Apple has also turned its head to LG Display for 7.9-inch Retina panels.
As fans worldwide are flocking to buy the larger iPad Air, the iPad mini with Retina Display isn’t even available online for pre-orders. Apple is so unsure when it will have enough tablets to open sales that it only says “Coming later in November.”
Nikkei’s report corroborates claims from financial analysts who’ve spoken with people in the IT industry and learned that Apple was having trouble assembling enough new iPad minis to fulfill demand.
It remains to be seen how this will affect the Cupertino giant’s bottom line for the first fiscal quarter of 2014. Also worth noting is that production hurdles such as these, while heavily mediated, tend to be resolved in a matter of weeks.
Turning back to Samsung in a time like this may be regarded as a sign of weakness, but you could also interpret it as an indicator that demand for the new iPads is skyrocketing. What electronics vendor wouldn’t want that?