Apple eyes the ultra HD TV market

Apple will probably start selling ultra-high definition televisions with 65- and 55-inch screens during the fourth quarter next year, according to a Tokyo-based analyst at Advanced Research Japan.

The Cupertino, California-based company is deciding on specifications, and the models likely will have a frameless design, Masahiko Ishino, an analyst at Advanced Research, said in an interview last week. Ishino declined to identify who gave him the information.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, before he died in 2011, told his biographer he had “finally cracked” how to build a TV with a simple user interface that would wirelessly synchronize content with Apple’s other devices. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said May 29 that TV is an area of “intense focus” for Apple as it seeks to add products that can build on the success of Macs, iPhones and iPads.

LG Display, Samsung Electronics and Corning may be among the suppliers for Apple’s TVs, which may be priced at $1,500 to $2,500, Ishino said. LG Display may supply more than 70 percent of the liquid-crystal displays, Samsung may make graphic processing units and Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 may be used as the cover, he said.

Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group probably will be hired to assemble the devices, according to Ishino.

Apple is upgrading top-selling products ahead of the holiday shopping season. The company introduced the iPhone 5s and 5c last month, selling more than 9 million devices during the opening weekend.

Samsung and LG Electronics released 65- and 55-inch ultra-high definition TVs earlier this year to spark demand for sets and to combat competition from China and Japan. Ultra-high definition sets use conventional LCDs that offer resolution rivaling that of more expensive organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screens.

Bloomberg