Sharp Says iPhone Display Production Is Finally up to Speed

If early supplies of Apple’s new iPhone 5 were less than they could have been, Sharp was likely to blame. Earlier this summer, reports emerged that the company was struggling to ramp up production of the in-cell touch-panel displays used in the device. Now a Sharp executive tells Reuters that only recently has it begun producing “adequate volumes” of those components.

This jibes with what AllThingsD has been hearing lately, as well, and lends further credence to rumors that poor display yields at Sharp had hamstrung early iPhone 5 supplies. “Apple is facing significant production constraints due to a move toward in-cell display technology, which pushes units into the December and March quarters,” Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes noted earlier this week. “[That] factor has limited sales this past week according to our checks.”

But now with Sharp’s display production “adequately” ramped up, supply is less constrained. No surprise, then, that Apple is pushing ahead with its aggressive global rollout schedule which brought the iPhone 5 to 22 new markets today, and a number of U.S. regional carriers, as well.