Trial Production of Apple’s fifth-Generation iPad will Begin Soon, Full Production in July (Rumor)

Apple

Digitimes is reporting that trial production of Apple’s fifth-generation iPad (9.7-inch) will begin soon and full production will begin in July. This will enable monthly shipments to reach up to 2-3 million units in September, the report states. This information came courtesy of sources within Taiwan’s supply chain.

According to the report, the display of the new iPad will maintain its 2,048 x 1,536 resolution as seen in the 4th-generation model.

Other key information from the report include:

• The new display is built on a glass substrate of 0.2mm, thinner than the 0.25mm one for the 4th-generation device.

• The new tablet will has a narrow bezel.

• It will feature the GF2 touch panel technology (1 layer of glass and two layers of ITO film) instead of G/G bonding used in 4th-generation iPad.

• The new iPad will use one LED light bar for backlighting, compared to two LED light bars used in 4th-generation iPad.

• The 5th-generation iPad is estimated to be 25-33% lighter than the 4th-generation one.

Furthermore, the usual suspects – “LG Display, Samsung Display and Sharp are expected to be the suppliers of display panels for the 5th-generation iPad, while Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology will undertake SMT for the LED light bars, Radiant Opto-Electronics and Coretronic will be responsible for making the backlight units and TPK Holding for touch panel bonding, the report states.

Source: Digitimes