By Sam Oliver

Published: 09:10 AM EST (06:10 AM PST)

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is rumored to have visited South Korea last week to talk with executives from Samsung about switching to an AMOLED display for the third-generation iPad.

The claims stem from a story published by The Korea Herald, highlighted by OLED-Info.com. A source reportedly said the third-generation iPad could launch toward the end of this year.

The report claims that Apple offered Samsung "an advance" for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode displays to guarantee capacity. Currently, the iPad 2 employs an IPS LCD display, the same screen that was used in the first-generation iPad.

The report claims Samsung's Super AMOLED displays offer brighter screens, less sunlight reflection and reduced power consumption. It also claimed that the new screens have a "significant advantage" over existing traditional LCD displays.

The report also said Apple's rumored switch to AMOLED screens from Samsung could spell trouble for LG, which currently provides LCD screens for the iPad 2. Earlier this month, it was claimed that light leaks that occurred with LG-manufactured iPad 2 displays caused Apple to already shift most of its existing touchscreen purchases to Samsung.



Rumors of Apple adopting AMOLED technology are nothing new, and even existed before the iPad was formally announced last year. And last December, it was said that limited supply of AMOLED screens was a "major reason" that Apple overlooked the technology for the iPad 2.

Other rumors suggest that Apple is working on a high-resolution Retina Display for a future iPad model. Apple coined the term Retina Display with the release of the iPhone 4 last year, claiming that the screen's 326 pixels per inch was more than the human eye could discern.