It appears that Apple depends on Samsung in a big way, since they’re the providers of the iPad displays. In spite of the battles between the two tech giants, they are still important to each other, with Samsung becoming the largest supplier of iPad displays in Q1, according to DisplaySearch.
The market researcher said that Samsung Display shipped 5.2 million units of 9.7 inch panels with a resolution of 2048 x 1536, accounting for 62% of the total shipments of that display size and resolution, said a recent report from BrightWire News. These panels are used by Apple for the iPad Air and the iPad With Retina Display. LG Display is also a big supplier for Apple, but its share dropped to 38% in the first quarter.
The drop is even more serious if you think that LG had 61% at the end of last year. Samsung is also the maker of Apple iPhone and iPad CPUs, but in this area there’s also TSMC that wants a piece of the action. Apple could source the A8 CPU to Samsung in spite of TSMC’s interest, though…
