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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

iPhone 5′s New Thinner Display Causing Supply Issues

Apple’s supply of iPhone 5 units couldn’t hold up to the weekend demand, and what many analysts forecast as one of the reasons behind this demand, is the use of new thinner display.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is using a new display technology for the iPhone 5 that integrates the touchscreen into the display, making the device smaller, lighter, more responsive, and eventually cheaper.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is using three major suppliers for the displays: LG, Sharp, and Japan Display. LG has had good yields, while Sharp has struggled, but has more recently achieved suitable yields.

Analysts from Jefferies raise CQ3 from 23M to 26M, assuming 8-10M iPhone 5 sales. According to the report, their checks indicate that the addition of Sony to the list of in-cell display suppliers (Sharp, LG, and Toshiba) to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has alleviated what had been the main bottleneck, and helped offset bearish concerns that only

5M iPhone 5 handsets will be available in September. The 5M unit sales the first weekend were lower than their 8M estimate, which analysts believe was due to the reservation of 2-3M units for the second wave of international launches this Friday.

Supply Chain Bottlenecks Lessening

Toshiba, Sony, and Hitachi created Japan Display by merging their small and mid-sized display businesses. They have separate plants, but are under a common ownership structure. According to Jefferies, most sell-side checks have only looked at the ramp and yield at the Toshiba plant, and have underappreciated the ramp at the Sony plant.

Analysts from Jefferies believe the output from the Sony/Japan Display plant is a major reason why consensus is concerned about the number of iPhone 5 handsets available to ship in September.

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