Apple paid 300-400% premium for new iPad 2 display order, report claims

By on Mar 31, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Tablets March 31, 2011

Apple has reportedly placed a new order for 30 million display panels per year from leading display manufacturer AU Optronic. The unconfirmed report from Taiwan Economic News suggests Apple paid a huge 300-400% premium to lock in the order, which could see AU Optronics produce up to 100,000 iPad 2 displays each day. The order accounts for about half of the global tablet market, the report claims. Apple had sourced its 9.7-inch iPad 2 displays from LGD and Samsung and some manufacturing took place in Japan, which could be part of the reason for Apple’s willingness to pay a premium to a new supplier. It is also unclear if the move is a response to light leakage problems many have reported with Apple’s current iPad 2 displays.

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27 Comments

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  • Anonymous

    They’ll run out of money soon. I hope the manufacturer got the money all upfront. I don’t know about apple, but google always prepays for the components of the products they manufacture!

    • http://tumblelog.reagank.com reagank

      Yep, they’ll be running out of money very soon. I mean, that $59.7B cash on hand can’t buy more than, what? About 150M iPad displays? I mean, how can they expect to keep up with demand with that few displays?

    • Anonymous

      Apple run out of cash? Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. About as likely as Bill Gates starting to bounce checks.

      • Anonymous

        Bill Gates bounces checks!

      • Anonymous

        probably because he uses Microsoft Money on Vista

      • Anonymous

        I wonder if Bill Gates file his own tax return. He would definitely be audited by IRS.

    • Anonymous

      troll.

      • Anonymous

        Which one?

      • http://www.droiddoes.com/ Norm

        Anyone who defends apple is a troll. Also I would argue anyone who disses android is a troll.

      • Anonymous

        Hey if you and norm the phandroid need any moto xoom’s they have about 10 on hand at 3 best buy’s I visited today. No ipad 2′s though not even the 1st ipad’s. dorks

    • numetheus

      You sir, are an idiot.

    • Danheb

      Apple still has well over 60 Billions in their bank account don’t worry about them :-)
      Contrary to Google, Apple has a great deal experience in manufacturing great hi tech devices, They already paid in december an january for all the parts they’re gonna need for the full year 2011 which include 2 billion only for the LCD screens … how about that!!!

    • http://twitter.com/iMarky_Marc Marc Jarvis

      im sorry what products does google manufactuer themselves?????? hmmmmmmmm????…..exactly…idiot

      • anDROIDfan

        You’re perceptive, but easily fooled. Calling this guy an idiot has backfired.

    • Couzy85

      do you have nothing better to do all day except blurt out random stuff that comes into your head? Thanks to you, anyone who read your comment has become significantly less intelligent thanks to what you posted.

      • anDROIDfan

        Alternately, many that respond to his comments reveal their ability to think critically. I feel GoofanAKAAppleHater provides much insight into this forum.

    • Anonymous

      Your comment shows a lack of intelligence and ignorance on your part.

      • anDROIDfan

        Thanks for proving my point!

  • Scott

    Retina, dude.

  • phoo

    hah run out of money , bah .. but they should have made a better deal on the parts the hough

  • scott

    this cant be correct. if they were paying a 300-400% premium on a component that according to iSuppli costs $127 then they would basically be losing money on each one. i doubt this is true.

    • serpentor

      Would $127 be the going rate or what iSuppli guesses Apple negotiated for the component?

    • Couzy85

      I would be willing to bet that even if they take a loss up front, between accessory purchases and purchases from the app store, the would easily make up for that difference. The more ipads in the hands of people, the more residual income they have for the next 2 years.

      • Anonymous

        The iPad 2 greatest thing is it’s apps, and sucking in people with the iPad 2 and forcing them to buy apps locks them into apple. Why would someone buy $50 of apps to change to an android device. That’s why apple has so many followers. This is a smart move to dominate the market now. I am sure they learned from the iPhone situation about losing market with google. The iOS 5.0 and iPhone 5, plus new apple tv and music event will take out google and hp from the market for a while.

  • Anonymous

    RE: “…report from Taiwan Economic News suggests Apple paid a huge 300-400% premium…”

    REPLY: The “300-400%” premium is incorrect.

    The actual report said, “…[the] price offered by Apple is three to four times the going price for displays of the same size. …,” which means that Apple is paying 200-300% more, NOT 300-400% more.

  • http://twitter.com/fullchipdesign Atul

    There are using there cash pile to get unfair advantage among suppliers ..

  • Anonymous

    yeah i really doubt this is true. even if the screen was 50 bucks, conservative for one that size, they’re saying apple paid 200-250 for it? i can’t see them making any money off it given the rest of the components at the low end, and everyone knows apple doesn’t sell loss leaders.

    so, i call BS

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