Take that, Google: A new report suggests “second-grade” touchscreen panels rejected by Apple for the iPad 2 are making their way into “Chinese ‘white-box’ iPad clones” used for cheaper Android tablets.
AppleInsider is reporting that manufacturers may have found a use for all those “second-grade” iPad 2 touch panels that Apple is rejecting, and it’s for an ironic purpose. According to DigiTimes, the rejected 9.7-inch IPS panels are being sold to Chinese vendors for generic Android tablets facing off with Apple’s own in the marketplace.
“As an example of a generic iPad clone, the report cited the T10 Android 2.2 tablet from Chinese vendor SmartDevices, as well as devices from vendors AGSO and Wanlida,” AppleInsider notes. “The T10 sells for CNY1,900 ($293), nearly half the price of the base iPad 2 model, which sells for CNY3,688 ($570) in China.”
Apple is said to control as much as 60 percent of the touch panel market, using upfront cash payments to keep such vital components available to them -- and out of the hands of competitors. LG Display and Samsung Electronics are the two main suppliers for those components, having shipped an estimated 12 to 15 million in the second quarter of 2011 alone, with seven to nine million of those projected to be iPad 2 models.
“The extra panels are reportedly grouped into three portions: those unable to meet requirements, those sent to Apple manufacturer Foxconn for increased shipments in the third quarter, and those sold to white-box vendors in China,” AppleInsider explains.
With what seems like a new tablet coming out every week, it’s not surprising to hear that manufacturers would want to recycle such important components, particularly for low-cost iPad clones. Thus far the only Android tablet to gain much traction in the market is the $399 Asus Eee Pad Transformer, a 16GB slate which uses an IPS display similar to the iPad, but a wider form factor. Asus has had trouble keeping up with demand for the tablet, publicly boasting about having the number two spot in the tablet market after Apple.
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(Image courtesy of AppleInsider)
DanielSw
July 04, 2011 at 7:59pm
We just watched the movie "Secretariat" about the famous racehorse who won the 1973 American Triple Crown, finishing the third race, the Belmont Stakes, by more than 24 lengths.
That's definitely the way to beat the competition.
It'll be interesting to read the tidbits now and then about how "other" tablets never even finished their races.
