Apple to sell ultra-HD TV in 2014

Apple will likely start selling ultra high definition televisions with 65 and 55-inch screens during the fourth quarter of next year, according to one analyst.

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

Takashi Takebayashi, a Tokyo-based spokesman for Apple, didn't respond to a request for comment.
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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 synchronise content with Apple's other devices.

Chief executive Tim Cook said in May 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 and Corning may be among the suppliers for Apple's TVs, which may be priced from $US1500 to $US2500, Ishino said. LG may supply more than 70 per cent 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 will probably be hired to assemble the devices, according to Ishino.

Apple is upgrading top-selling products ahead of the holiday shopping season.

The company unveiled new iPad tablets and upgraded laptops at an event in San Francisco this week.

Apple also introduced the iPhone 5s and 5c last month, selling more than 9 million devices in the opening weekend.

Samsung and LG 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 rivalling that of more expensive organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, screens.


/Smh.Com.Au/