Apple’s new iPad features touchscreen supplied by Samsung

Apple versus Samsung. The iPad versus Galaxy Tab. IOS versus Android. Bitter rivalries until the very end, right? Not quite.

If you’re one of the expected millions of consumers who picks up Apple’s new iPad, you’ll be peering into a 9.7-inch, Samsung supplied touchscreen whenever you use your tablet, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Although Apple and Samsung are suing each other in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia, with more than 20 lawsuits having been filed in at least 10 countries, the two adversaries are also business partners when there is a mutual benefit to be had.

And in Apple’s third-generation iPad, there is a lot of mutual benefit to be had.

Apple sold 15.43 million iPads in the last three months of 2011, up 4 million from the prior three-month period. Analysts expect that the third-generation iPad could move 1 million units sold in the first 24 hours it goes on sale -- this Friday.

The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant has already sold out of its pre-order allotments of the new iPad, leaving consumers who order today with an estimated two-to-three-week wait.

For every iPad sold, Samsung will be selling one of its touchscreens to Apple.

Cha-ching.

So why would Apple decide to get its touchscreens from Samsung? According to Bloomberg, other suppliers such as LG and Sharp aren’t currently able to produce touch displays at the level of quality or resolution that Apple sought.

The new iPad features a touchscreen with a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution, double that offered by the first two generations of iPads.

“The display specifications on the new iPad are very demanding in terms of the very high resolution,” Vinita Jakhanwal, a senior manager at the IHS iSuppli research firm, told Bloomberg. “Achieving this high resolution without compromising on the power consumption and brightness and maintaining Apple’s quality standards are supposedly proving to be a challenge for LG Display and Sharp.”

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