Component shortages say no AMOLED for iPad 2.0

In case you’ve any doubt left, you can forget the notion of AMOLED screens in the next-generation iPad, there simply aren’t enough components to go round — indeed, Apple competitors who made the leap to the tech are already facing steep component shortages.

There’s an inevitability about all this. Even as Apple competitors attempt to leapfrog iOS devices by fielding more advanced technologies in their gadgets, they forget the need to serve mass market products up in reliable quantity.

So, Digitimes tells us that AMOLED screens are now in the smartphone market with manufacturers beginning to ramp-up production for new devices, including TVs.

However, when it comes to the smartphone-sized screens, key manufacturer, Samsung, can’t even make enough of these panels to serve demand for its own Galaxy-S products, let alone the Nexus-S, Nokia and HTC handsets.

As Digitimes puts it:

With backlight unit (BLU) makers set to be suppliers for the second generation of iPad, AMOLED will still be unable to enter Apple’s supply chain. Panel makers have noted that a major reason for Apple to overlook AMOLED for iPads is insufficient supplies. SMD’s current capacity for 2- to 4.2-inch AMOLED panels are not enough to meet the demand from Samsung’s Galaxy-S, Google Nexus-S, Nokia and HTC.

Moreover, the current AMOLED technology is not suitable for volume production of 7- to 11-inch tablet PC panels, and the mass production cost will not be able to compete with TFT-LCD panels.

What we have here is a classic situation in which Apple competitors are seeing their plans to take on the Cupertino mobile product Goliath trounced by their inability to source components in quantity.

Signing off, you may want to meet the world’s oldest iPad user, 103-year old grandmother, Lillian. Visit her here.