A large part of the iPad 2's shortage issues were put at LG Display's feet on Thursday night through claims from supply sources. LG Display reportedly had light leakage problems for screens made at its sixth-generation LCD plant and could only ship 3.2 million iPad LCDs between January and March. Samsung, already helping out, ended up producing more at seven million, Digitimes understood.
While the 9.2 million total was well in excess of the 4.69 million Apple sold, much of that production would have been intended for the spring. Apple is known to have stopped original iPad production near the very start of the year and to have shifted over to production around February. Shipments would have started out in low numbers both due to the LG Display issue and the usual time needed to ramp up production at a contractor like Foxconn.
LG Display was said to have already fixed the problem and should be producing many more in spring. Plans for Chimei Innolux to pitch in were reportedly still on track and would have it shipping the 9.7-inch, IPS-based touchscreens this month.
While unconfirmed, the LG issues would support complaints from some iPad 2 buyers who've noticed light leakage on some of the earliest production runs. Apple has readily acknowledged that it was limited only by supply in the first quarter of the year and hinted at LG's resolution with confidence production would get back on track quickly.
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