Samsung is right now leading the smartphone race, so something big certainly should come from Apple if they have plans to reach the top again. Apple is expected to bring out their next iPhone at their worldwide developer conference in June. Further evidence that this is happening comes from reports claiming that suppliers are already making the display for the so-called iPhone 5S.

While other companies have already started the manufacturing, the next gen iPhone’s LCD displays from Sharp will enter production in June. All these developments are pointing to a possible launch sometime in June or July.

The iPhone 5S is expected to run iOS 7 and come with an updated processor, a fingerprint sensor, improved cam, and more RAM, among other additions. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has earlier said that the device will take time to arrive due to delays in development of the fingerprint sensor and their next OS.

Meanwhile, the rumored low cost iPhone, which is expected to be unveiled beside the iPhone 5S, could enter mass production sometime in the near future. This has been suggested by a new rumor about Apple supplier Pegatron’s plans to increase its workforce in China by 40 percent in the second half of 2013.

As for their upcoming iPad Mini 2, it is expected to arrive with a high resolution Retina Display, which could delay the manufacturing of the device.

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This news comes by way of Reuters, which in turn got its information from “industry sources with knowledge of Sharp’s production plans.” While exact numbers are not available, they are saying that the production of the 9.7-inch screen has “fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012.” This is at the Kameyama plant in Japan.

It’s possible that this is just a seasonal fluctuation and Apple may already be overstocked from overproduction during the holiday shopping rush. That said, as mentioned above, it’s also possible that more people bought the iPad mini instead and, thus, Apple is overstocked with the larger iPad too. Then again, Sharp isn’t Apple’s only supplier for these screens, as they buy them from LG and Samsung too. Maybe Sharp is getting too expensive, relatively speaking, for Cupertino?

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The new iPhone is coming soon, or so we hope. One question you have to wonder though, will they be able to handle demand? A new report coming from Reuters gives us potentially bad news.

Sharp’s screen production is supposedly running behind schedule. This is just one of three display makers, but if one is behind- that could put everything behind. Sharp is struggling with low production yields, so says sources.

What we don’t know is how severe the supply limitations are, and whether this could truly affect launch of the new iPhone or not. Apple has struggled some in the past with getting enough product out into the hands of consumers, is a repeat move coming?

What do you think, if Sharp is behind could it mean limited initial supplies of the iPhone at launch? Of course it’s possible that the other two partners, Japan Display and LG Display Co, have been asked to step up their game to make up for Sharp falling behind. We’ll know soon enough.

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High-end specs usually come at a high-end price, but it looks like you can circumvent that problem by going with a less recognized brand. Case in point is the newly announced Xiaomi Phone 2, an Android Jelly Bean smartphone boasting a 4.3-inch 720p IPS display and Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core processor. The thing is that it sells for just $310 outright. That’s about half the price as a Galaxy S III or new iPhone.

Even though Xiaomi may not be a household name, the Xiaomi Phone 2 comes packed with some respectable names inside. As mentioned, the processor is courtesy of Qualcomm. And you know that IPS display? It’s a Sharp panel. You also get an impressive 2GB of RAM to go along with the fairly standard 16GB of storage capacity. The rear camera is a bright and wide 27mm F/2.0 8MP shooter, whereas the front-facing camera is a 28mm 2MP unit.

Android Jelly Bean has been overlaid with Xiaomi’s MIUI ROM, which adds such features as enhanced security, phone finder, a Chinese voice assistant (Siri’s Android-flavored Chinese cousin?), 5GB of cloud storage and interactive themes. It looks like one of these themes, based on the images provided, is “inspired” by Angry Birds.

The Xiaomi Phone 2 is set to launch with China Unicom and China Telecom in October for an outright price of about $310, though they’ll likely offer subsidized pricing on contract too. The interesting thing is that while this won’t be made officially available in North America, the Xiaomi Phone 2 does support WCDMA 850/1900/2100, so it should work with AT&T if you unlock it. If you’re willing to go through the import process and chance it with an unrecognized Chinese brand, this phone looks like it’s quite the beast for a pretty amazing price.

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Sharp has officially confirmed that it will be shipping the screens for the next iPhone this month at a special press briefing in Tokyo. Unfortunately, that’s about all we know for sure about the screen as Sharp President Takashi Okuda took a “no comment” stance on other questions about the screen such as its dimensions. According to many other reports though it is all-but guaranteed that the iPhone 5 will have a 4-inch screen instead of its traditional 3.5-inch display. Supposedly the overall size of the iPhone will stay the same though, the screen will simply take up more real-estate on the design than it did before.

What other goodies might the screen have in store for us? It’s possible that Sharp’s IGZO technology might make its way into the screen, allowing lower energy consumption and increased pixel transparency. The IGZO technology for mobile devices was announced in April, so its not unreasonable to believe such technology would make it into the new iPhone even if no specific rumor has made mention of the technology as of yet.

With Apple upping the purchases of its components and the confirmation from Sharp that the screens are shipping soon, it is becoming more and more likely that we could in fact see the iPhone 5, and maybe even the 7-inch iPad, this September.

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This comes by way of an “anonymous source” to CultofMac, but this insider has come through with some juicy details before. In this instance, the upcoming Apple HDTV is going to look mostly like the existing LED backlit Apple Cinema Displays, except much larger. We can probably expect a small handful of models in the 40-inch to 60-inch range.

What’s interesting is that we’re hearing the new Apple HDTV will feature an iSight camera for FaceTime as well as the Siri personal assistant (from the iPhone 4S) for some navigation. Aside from that, details are sketchy, but we have heard that Foxconn has invested $1.6 billion in Sharp’s TV unit. There has to be a reason for that.

I don’t really expect Apple to make a TV just for TV’s sake. It’s going to be like the iPod or the iPhone in that they’ll create some sort of closed environment to “revolutionize” the experience. You can probably expect heavy integration with the iTunes Store, possibly at the expense of ousting “alternative” entertainment sources like conventional cable TV. We will see, but according to TV analyst Paul Gagnon, we should see this come to light some time in 2013.

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When Apple wanted to bump its way to Retina territory for the new iPad, there was really only one company that was capable of doing it: Samsung. You see, Apple has very high standards for quality and it was only Samsung that was able to meet these standards for the new iPad’s Retina display.

And it’s not for lack of competition either. When Apple started the development cycle, it looked at other suppliers. Both LG and Sharp were in the running, but neither was able to live up to the quality control standards set out by the team in Cupertino. That looks like it might change in a couple of months, but only if they can improve their standards to live up to what Apple demands.

Samsung isn’t only supplying the display panel for the new iPad. You know that new A5X chip? That’s Samsung too. Considering how integral Samsung has been to the iPad’s success, it only makes sense that Samsung is pretty much tops when it comes to Android smartphones and tablets too.

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As of late, there has been no shortage of rumors regarding Apple products, particularly the iPad. Now it seems that yet another rumor has surfaced, this time courtesy of sources allegedly from Apple supply chain partners.

According to the new information, Apple is set to unveil its next-gen iPad at the iWorld conference on January 26th. This doesn’t follow Apple’s previous release history and really gives little weight to this rumor. The source claims that this time around there will be two versions introduced that will join the iPad 2 (not necessarily replacing it) to give Apple a full range of tablet products that can target the entry-level, mid-range, and high-end market segments.

The source claims that the iPad 2 will stick around as a competing product for Amazon’s Kindle Fire in the lower-end market segment, while the new models cater to mid and high-end users. Unless Apple introduces a massive discount on the iPad 2 after launching these next two models, I’m not sure how well a fit the iPad 2 is for low-market competition. Of course, if such a mark down could see the iPad 2 drop to as little as $300-$349 I have a feeling that many users interested in the Kindle would be willing to spring the extra $100-$150 for Apple’s tablet.

Previous rumors suggested one of these models might be a 7.85-inch tablet, but if this new source proves true it seems that both models will in fact feature QXGA (1536×2048) resolution  9.7-inch displays. They will also include Dual-LE light bars in order to strengthen the brightness of the panels, the source claims.

As we have mentioned here at Mobile Magazine in the past, Sharp will in fact be the major panel supplier for the next-gen iPad, though Samsung and LG will also be responsible for a part of the orders.

Apple will continue to use Samsung, however, to produce the quad-core A6 processors for the iPad 3 models and will be one of many vendors producing the CMOS image sensor for one of the iPad versions that includes a 5MP lens.

The shear sheer amount of information accompanying the supposed ‘leaked’ information certainly looks and sounds believable enough. We’ll have to wait until iWorld to know for sure, I imagine.

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Mobile phones are getting thinner and thinner, but can only be made as thin as the internal parts that are required to build them. Sharp has unveiled their latest product, a tiny 12.1 megapixel camera sensor, which appears to be paving the way for thinner smartphones.

The Sharp RJ63YC100 camera sensor is being claimed by the company to be the thinnest in the industry. The sensor measures in at a mere 5.47 millimeters high and is less than half an inch deep.

The new sensor is also capable of shooting full HD (1080p) video and features built-in image stabilization which will allow you to take good pictures in shaky situations.

The sensor is expected to end up in future smartphones, especially a new iPhone model. As you might know, rumors are already flying around that Sharp will be the touchscreen supplier for upcoming iDevices.

Although Sony is providing iPhone’s current camera, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea for Apple if they sign deals with a single manufacturer for touchscreen and camera sensor shipments. Of course more phone manufacturers may also jump in on the action as well.

Samples of the sensor have been shipped to phone makers around the world. We are expecting that it won’t take too long for interested companies to make an announcement that the new sensor will be used in an upcoming handset.

The sensor is expected to come with a price tag of 12,000 yen, around $154. That increases the possibility of a slightly expensive smartphone. What do you think?

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Arstechnica recently reported that the display in the upcoming iPad 3 will supposedly have a 2048×1536 resolution. For a 9.7″ screen, this is a spectacular resolution, coming in around 264 PPI.

The negative side of the equation could be that manufacturing such screens in mass quantities often results in several key problems, which end in a yield issue. When the first generation iPad went into production the percentage of displays accepted by Apple was often as low as 50%, meaning out of two produced displays only one was deemed worthy of actually making its way into the final product.

The problem with these rejected displays are that they often end up with a dead or stuck pixel, uneven or inconsistent luminescence, or even so other random electrical, optical, or mechanical problem during the manufacturing process. These rejects result in pushing up the costs of display production and result in a lower than produced yield of working screens.

Thankfully with more than 40 million iPads sold, the major companies behind the displays have learned how to minimize such defects as best as possible. The contract to develop displays for Apple is a very lucrative deal and companies like Samsung, Sharp, and LG are more than willing to supply screens for iPad 3. Although it seems that Sharp is the primary choice for Apple at the moment.

Beyond the iPad 3, rumors also suggest that a 7.85-inch iPad could eventually be in the works. This would give display manufacturers like Sharp even more work from Apple.

Success with 7-inch and smaller Android tablets reveal that the market for such a product is likely there, but analysts that support the idea of Apple pursuing a smaller-form iPad are overlooking one key fact. Steve Jobs was personally against such a move to a smaller factor and so early after the death of Jobs it would seem unwise of Tim Cook go against Job’s wishes.

What we do know is that sooner rather than later the Apple iPad 3 will arrive on scenes. Will production issues with the screen result in lower initial yields? Based on past examples it seems likely, but for now all we can do is speculate.

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