Sharp. Corp. said after an earnings conference call with financial analysts that it had begun manufacturing of screens for Apple's new iPhone and would start shipments this month, in time for Apple to introduce its sixth-generation smartphone in the coming months.

Takashi Okuda, the president of Sharp, told Reuters news-agency after the earnings conference call that the company had initiated production of screens for the new Apple iPhone and that it would start revenue shipments this month. Mr. Okuda did not reveal any details about the screens and also did not indicate when exactly Apple is set to receive the screens. It is also not clear whether Sharp will be the exclusive supplier of the screens for the new iPhone 5.

The screen of Apple iPhone 5 will be "taller" compared to display of the iPhone 4/4S and will have 1136*640 resolution, according to market rumours, meaning that it will sustain "retina" quality with 326 pixels-per-inch pixel density. It is expected that the new iPhone will use thinner glasses from Corning, which will enable to make the new smartphone thinner overall.

^{Apple iPhone 5, image by iLabFactory}

In light of the rapidly changing market for LCD panels and LCD televisions, in March 2012 Sharp sold 46.5% of Sharp Display Products to Hon Hai Precision Industry Group (better known as Foxconn), the world's largest contract maker of electronics and the main manufacturing partner of Apple, which builds both iPhone and iPad devices. Later on, Sony sold its stake in SDP to Sharp. As a result, SDP is owned by Sharp (53.5%) and Foxconn (46.5%). Therefore, it is logical for Foxconn to acquire displays exclusively from Sharp provided that the latter can fulfill the demand.

Apple did not comment on the news-story.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, Sharp, Foxconn