Japan’s Sharp Corp. said it will start shipping screens destined for a new Apple iPhone that is widely expected to be released in October ahead of the pre-Christmas shopping season.<\/p>\n
“Shipments will start in August,” Sharp’s new president, Takashi Okuda, said at a press briefing in Tokyo on Thursday after the company released its latest quarterly earnings.<\/p>\n
He declined to give a more specific date for shipments beyond this month.<\/p>\n
Apple is planning a major product launch on Sept 12, stoking speculation that the world’s most valuable technology company will announce the sale of its redesigned iPhone. Sharp, identified as a supplier by Apple last year, is one of three companies expected to build the screens for the latest Apple offering.<\/p>\n
The other two suppliers of the panels are LG Display Co Ltd and Japan Display Inc.<\/p>\n
Apple is equipping the next iPhone with a larger screen after Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphone with a 4.8-inch touch-screen.<\/p>\n
Sources earlier told Reuters that the panels will be 4 inches corner to corner — 30 percent bigger than current iPhones.<\/p>\n
Samsung last month posted a record operating profit of $5.9 billion for the quarter ended June, helped by sales of its latest handset.<\/p>\n
The iPhone screens will also be thinner than their previous incarnations with the use of so-called in-cell panels. The new technology embeds touch sensors into the liquid crystal display, eliminating the touch-screen layer found in current iPhones.<\/p>\n
Samsung and Apple on Tuesday faced off at the start of a high-stakes patent trial, where Apple has accused Samsung of stealing iPhone features like scrolling and multi-touch.<\/p>\n
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