According to the Korea Herald, Apple is considering working with Samsung to bring their AMOLED technology to the iPad 3. The technology is used on the (admittedly impressive) screen of the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone series.
The Korea Herald claims to have heard from sources that Apple is actively courting Samsung to build these displays, and this is allegedly a high priority enough venture that Tim Cook himself is said to have discussed the matter with Samsung in person. The report even suggests that Apple might have offered Samsung some sort of an advance for the displays.
Interesting, the report also seems to indicate than an updated iPad will be launched later this very year, which would break Apple’s launch cycle, and presumably piss a lot of people off that will just barely have gotten their hands on an iPad 2 by that time.
Some question the credibility of this report (such as 9to5Mac) on the basis that Samsung would not allow Jobs to be first to market with an AMOLED tablet, and may be hesitant to work with Apple anyway, considering the recent lawsuit between the two companies. I, however, suggest that money is a strong motivating factor – and it’s a resource that Apple has a hell of a lot of, so I’m not ruling anything out just yet.
AMOLED technology is credited with many benefits, from low power consumption and high refresh rates to deep and true blacks, vivid colors and great outdoor visibility. It as also less prone to manufacturing issues, such as dead pixels and backlight bleeding that some early iPad 2 adopters reported.
[9to5Mac]
