Sharp’s new iPhone 5 screen
Sharp president Takashi Okuda says his company will begin shipping displays for the next Apple iPhone by the end of this month.
According to Reuters, Okuda made the announcement at a press conference in Tokyo, where Sharp reps were discussing a quarterly earnings report. His comments have attracted a lot of interest in the tech press, and for good reason: While Apple rumors are a dime a dozen, most gossip comes from anonymous sources in the Apple supply chain, not the chiefs of multinational electronics giants.
And the chiefs of multinational electronics giants rarely muff up the facts. So yes, the iPhone 5 will almost certainly launch this fall, perhaps as early as September. That would allow Apple to meet its yearly product refresh cycle, and put the iPhone 5 (or whatever the next Apple smartphone is called) on shelves just in time for the holiday shopping rush. As we noted recently, the iPhone is still selling well, but not as well as some analysts had hoped.
iPhone 5.
Apple might as well fess up now and admit that its iPhone 5 – or whatever the gadget will be called – is on the way in September. The cat is out of the bag, and now even Japan’s Sharp Corp. is admitting to some degree that the highly-rumored iOS smartphone is on the way. The admittance was offered up to the press in Tokyo on Thursday after the company released its latest quarterly earnings.
“Shipments will start in August” – Sharp’s new president, Takashi Okuda, said. He reportedly declined to give a more specific date for shipments beyond that point, nor did he actually comment on Sharp’s relationship with Apple. But as Reuters states, these screens are widely known to be headed for the new iPhone.
The other two suppliers of the panels are LG Display Co Ltd and Japan Display Inc.
As reported earlier, Apple is supposedly revealing the new iPhone 5, the iPad Mini and new iPod devices on September 12. The phone itself is supposedly slated for a September 21 release, and so far there’s no word of when exactly the rumored 7-inch iPad tablet will hit retail shelves although there’s talk it may hit the market at the same time.
The latest smartphone will reportedly come packed with 30-percent larger screen than the current iPhone. measuring 4-inches from corner to corner. Its closest competitor, the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S III, sports a 4,8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2.
Sharp has confirmed that it will start shipping displays destined for the iPhone 5 this month, as production of the new iPhone starts to ramp up.
The announcement was made by Takashi Okuda, Sharp’s new president during a press briefing in Tokoyo, where the Japense firm was releasing its quarterly financial results.
Talking about the displays for the new iPhone Okuda said – “shipments will start in August”, however he would not be drawn on providing more information.
The size of the display set to feature on the iPhone 5 is still a mystery, but it’s widely thought that Apple will, for the first time, bump the size up from the 3,5-inch offering on all previous models, to a slightly more ample 4-inch option.
Consider that the sixth generation of iPhone will be going head-to-head with the 4,7-inch HTC One X and 4,8-inch Samsung Galaxy S3, and you’ll see that the Cupertino-based firm needs to ensure it at least keeps pace with its rivals.
As we consume more media, games and web pages on our phones, the need for a larger display becomes more apparent, and while some will argue that 3,5-inches is just the right size, there’s a strong case for the opposite.
We expect the iPhone 5 to land sometime in September or October, with a new iPhone launch date of Sept. 12 being heavily rumoured at the moment.