Reports: Next Apple iPad Mini Has Samsung Retina Display

Apple’s (AAPL) next iPad Mini is headed for mass production this fall and the mobile device is likely to sport a high-resolution Retina display made by arch rival Samsung, along with similar technology from Sharp and LG, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The report comes with a few qualifiers, the most prominent of which is that Apple regularly tests a wide range of designs, so there is no certainty an iPad Mini with a high-resolution Retina display will ever see the light of day. And, there are contradictory reports out there that the vendor will sacrifice the better display for more horsepower in the unit, as 9to5Mac reported.

In its current iPad Mini, Apple bypassed the higher-resolution screen over concerns of battery life and device thickness. But, according to the report, even with a high-resolution screen, the next version will retain its 7.9-inch size and 7.2mm thinness, and may feature back covers in a variety of colors.

Wanting to move further away from relying on Samsung, Apple initially intended not to feature the Korean maker’s Retina displays, according to the report, preferring to rely on Sharp and LG. But evidently Apple grew concerned that those two suppliers could not guarantee adequate volume of the screens to meet production demands. AU Optronics, which produces the current iPad Mini screen, opted out of the supply chain for the next iteration of the device, the report said.

"We cannot take [Apple's] orders because our rate of output efficiency is too low to be profitable," said an AU Optronics manager quoted in the report.

To say the least, Apple and Samsung make for strange bedfellows. While the two companies have nurtured a chips and processors supplier relationship for years, to say the collaboration has taken on new meaning in the wake of a contentious, years-long legal war over intellectual property—a conflict that continues—would be to grossly understate the obvious.

Still, that Apple apparently acquiesced to needing Samsung’s display technology and production power in the new iPad Mini may say a lot about how it regards the smaller-screen tablet segment. With Google (GOOG) offering its new Nexus 7 tablet featuring a high-res 1080p screen, Apple may see the writing on the wall for competing head-to-head. The Nexus 7 sells for about $100 less than the current iPad Mini.