Sharp and Sony on Wednesday released a joint statement to announce the end of the companies’ joint venture to produce and sell LCD panels. Due to the “rapidly changing market for LCD panels and LCD televisions,” Sony will sell its shares of the venture, which represent 7.04% of the company. The manufacturer will also receive a cash payment equal to its original investment of 10 billion yen that will be paid by Sharp. Both the sale of shares and Sony’s cash payment will be completed by ...

Sharp on Tuesday announced that is has entered into an manufacturing partnership with Foxconn that will see the manufacturing giant take a 10% stake in the Japanese electronics company. Hon Hai has invested nearly 67 billion yen ($809 million) in Sharp in exchange for roughly 121.65 million new shares, which will be spread out between four Foxconn companies. Sharp CEO Takashi Okuda said, “Until now we have handled all of our R&D and manufacturing, but going forward we will need to include partnersh...

After reportedly failing to meet Apple’s quality requirements, Sharp and LG Display have now apparently begun shipping a small volume of displays for the new iPad, DigiTimes reported on Friday. “The supply of panels for the new iPad has improved recently, with LG Display and Sharp to ramp up their shipments in the second quarter, which will also result in a significant increase in shipments of the new iPads in the quarter and onwards,” Digitimes’s unnamed industry source said. An earl...

Despite numerous ongoing legal battles between the two rivals, Samsung Electronics is reportedly the sole supplier of displays for Apple’s new iPad tablet, which is set to launch this coming Friday. While speaking with Bloomberg, IHS iSuppli analyst Vinita Jakhanwal said that high-resolution display panels supplied by LG Display and Sharp did not meet Apple’s quality requirements. As a result, Apple’s 2,048 x 1,536-pixel Retina Display panels will be supplied exclusively by Samsung at launc...

Apple’s highly anticipated iPad 3 will reportedly be in short supply until some time in the second quarter according to a new report. Industry watcher DigiTimes on Thursday cited anonymous sources within Apple’s supply chain in claiming that the high-resolution 2,048 x 1,536-pixel display panels being supplied to Apple by Sharp may be in short supply. Initial shipments are expected to be limited as a result, and production supposedly won’t be ramped up until some time in the second quarter. ...

Apple has been widely rumored to be readying a Siri-enabled television for release this year, but a new report claims component availability issues will prevent the highly anticipated “iTV” from launching in the first half. Citing unnamed sources within Apple’s supply chain, DigiTimes on Friday reports that Sharp, rumored to have been contracted to supply display panels for Apple’s debut HDTV, is not yet ready to ship the indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) panels Apple will use in its...

Samsung, Sharp, Innolux Corp, Hitachi, HannStar Display Corp, Chungwha Picture Tubes and Epson Imaging Devices Corp will pay a total of $553 million to settle accusations that the firms participated in an LCD price-fixing scheme. The price fixing resulted in inflation of display prices at the benefit of all companies involved, but at the cost of consumers. “This price-fixing scheme manipulated the playing field for businesses that abide by the rules, and left consumers to pay artificially higher costs f...

Sharp is reportedly working to supply Apple with 32-inch and 37-inch LCD panels for its Siri-equipped HDTV. Manufacturers could begin building the new televisions as soon as the first quarter, DigiTimes said on Tuesday, and a public launch could occur in the second or third quarter next year. Samsung reportedly began building chips for the “iTV’ devices in November, too. The Wall Street Journal said earlier this month that Apple was already beginning to pitch the voice-controlled TV to top media e...

Apple has reportedly met with top media executives to discuss the company’s vision of the television market’s future, suggesting that the company is moving full steam ahead on its rumored Siri-powered HDTV. The television is expected to include similar technology to the company’s current Apple TV set top box, which allows users to stream content such as movies, music and photos over a wireless network. Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue has reportedly been in the aforementioned meetings a...

Apple’s competition is scrambling as it attempts to figure out exactly what the company has in store for the television industry next year, one analyst reports. In a recent note to clients, Jefferies & Company analyst Peter Misek writes that production of Apple’s debut television will begin in February at a Sharp plant in Japan. The HDTV will utilize Sharp display panels according to the analyst, and it will launch some time in mid-2012. Companies like Samsung are reportedly looking to Google...

Apple’s manufacturing partners are running into a few speed bumps creating the new high-resolution Retina Display for the iPad 3, CNET reported recently. LG CEO Young Soo Kwon confirmed that his company, which also builds the Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and 4S, is working on the next-generation iPad 3 screens. Samsung and Sharp are also allegedly behind the development. However, CNET said that mass manufacturing a display with a 2,048 x 1,536-pixel resolution, twice the pixel density of the current ...

Wholesale wireless reseller LightSquared announced on Monday that Sharp will manufacture smartphones and tablets capable of running on its 4G LTE network. LightSquared said that it will demo the first devices during the upcoming CTIA Wireless trade show in San Diego, California. “Sharp has a rich history of producing unique products that push the extremes of design and functionality, and we’re proud that they will be developing innovative devices for LightSquared’s 4G-LTE network,” LightSquared CE...

LG, Samsung and Sharp will provide Retina displays for Apple’s iPad 3, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday. In mid-July, rumors surfaced that Apple was testing Retina displays from Samsung and LG, and those rumors were confirmed days later when LG’s CEO said Apple will use its Retina LCDs in its next-generation iPad. Apple is also reportedly considering an investment of as much as $1 billion in a new Sharp factory that will be used to provide screens for its iPhone and iPad products. LG will be the larg...

Apple may invest $1 billion in a Sharp LCD factory to ensure adequate production of screens for its iPhone and iPad, according to MF Global FXA Securities analyst David Rubenstein. Apple typically buys its LCD displays from Samsung, LG and Chimei Innolux, although recent reports have suggested the iPhone maker has boosted its orders with Samsung after LG failed to meet iPad 2 display requirements. However, Apple’s recent legal battles with Samsung in the United States, the European Union and Australia c...