Rumor: 6 Inch iPad Mini Coming Soon (Photo credit: methodshop.com)
A strange diversion on a big day for Apple's mobile future: Samsung is denying a report that it will stop shipping LCD panels for use in devices like the iPhone and iPad. This suggested a potentially big break in an already tenuous relationship.
Yesterday the Korea Times cited a "senior industry official" and "industry sources" as saying that by next year, Samsung would end its role as Apple's biggest liquid crystal display (LCD) supplier after LG Display and Japan's Sharp, potentially a massive disruption to Apple's supply chain. Now a spokesman from the Korean electronics giant has told CNET's Shara Tibken that the Korea Times story is "100 false."
"Samsung Display has never tried to cut the supply for LCD panels to Apple," the spokesman was quoted as saying, adding that Samsung was asking Korea Times to revise its story.
This "denial" from Samsung did not go so far as to affirm that the company would indeed continue supplying LCD panels to Apple next year and beyond. I've reached out to Samsung for further clarification and will update when I hear back.
The Korea Times story painted a scenario where Samsung was gradually tailing off its supply of LCDs to Apple over the course of this year, quoting a source as saying the Korean company had shipped 15 million displays to Apple in the first six months of 2012, but less than 3 million during the third quarter, which ended in September. The source added, "we expect the quarterly shipment in the fourth quarter to fall to some 1.5 million."
The story said Samsung believed Apple was no longer a cash-generator, due to the company's "stiffer supply-chain management structure."
Though Samsung is a crucial supplier for Apple, shipping it processors and more than a quarter of the iPhone's components, it is widely thought the company will not supply displays for the new iPad Mini, which Apple is expected to unveil today. That job will probably go to the likes of LG Display and AU Optronics instead.
Samsung may have denied the full nixing of LCD supplies to CNET, but many see its close ties with Apple unravelling, not least because of the scale of their recent legal battles. Its non-involvement with the iPad Mini is another example.
This could be another case of "no smoke without a fire."
