LG Display shuns Samsung, becomes prime supplier of Retina iPad panels

More cracks are beginning to show in the Apple-Samsung partnership as the South Korean conglomerate’s component arm lost a significant amount of orders to rival LG Display. Coincidentally or not, the news arrives in the aftermath of the $1 billion ruling in the Apple v. Samsung trial. Samsung used to be the prime supplier of high-resolution Retina panels for Apple’s third-generation iPad, but no longer.

Seeking ways to reduce its dependency on Samsung, Apple reportedly shifted panel orders to LG Display. It’s not just a minor re-shuffling: Samsung last month saw iPad panel orders reduced to just 28 percent of its July output. We’ve seen what order stoppage rumors can do to market cap. I’d watch Samsung’s share price closely these days…

DigiTimes, a hit-and-miss Asian trade publication usually well-versed in supply chain rumors, reports that Samsung, Sharp and Chimei Inolux have all been seeing decreasing shipments as Apple now gets the majority of iPad Retina panels from LG Display.

Specifically, the inevitable “industry sources” told the publication that LG Display is now responsible for 70 percent of iPad panel shipments.

Samsung originally accounted for a large portion of iPad panel shipments and was shipping over one million iPad panels in July. However, as of August the company had dropped to roughly 700,000 in iPad panel shipments and that number may decrease even more, added the sources.

Mind you, Samsung’s monthly average of iPad panel shipments during the first half of 2012 used to be 2.5 million units so yeah – this drop is nothing if not substantial.

Sharp’s monthly output dropped from nearly 900,000 iPad panel shipments in July to 400,000 in August (probably yield issues). Finally, Chimei Innolux will deliver less than five percent of overall iPad panel shipments by the end of Q3 2012, according to the story.

Even worse for Samsung, it ain’t just the iPad.

Maybe Samsung shouldn’t have annoyed Apple, it’s biggest customer, in the first place?