Claims of iPad 3  featuring Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide Displays have been in controversies for a long time now. Digitimes reported a month back  that Apple was planning to incorporate Sharp manufactured IGZO display screens in the next generation iPad, while an esteemed Korean website said Sharp was thrown out  of the race.

However, in an interview with CNET , Charles Annis (DisplaySearch analyst) said iPad 3 has fair chances of utilizing Sharp-manufactured IGZO technology for its display screen. On being asked his opinion about Sharp still competing for iPad 3 display screen, he said that the company has been producing IGZO displays in huge masses and he doesn’t find a reason why its competitor LG display (LGD) would be accepted easily by Apple. According to him, as IGZO flat panel displays are not available in market at present, if iPad 3 comes out with one, it would be making a major debut of this technology. He strongly believes that Apple will launch iPad 3 sometime in April.

Charles suggests that IGZO displays hold great potential for next generation iPad because they allow greater brightness with thinner displays. Additionally, by reducing the number of LEDs used in the backlight, one can get equivalent brightness as offered by existing displays. This would reduce the overall cost and most importantly, the power required by the LED unit, hence increasing battery life.

Apple may use multiple display technologies for the same product, says the analyst. The company is currently working with Korean display manufacturers also. On being asked about the possibility of Sharp IGZO being used exclusively in iPad 3, he said that Apple can use a couple of different approaches here. IGZO panels can be sold in some regions and Korean amorphous silicon-based panels can be sold in other areas. Additionally, Sharp panels cut down backlight costs (though costly themselves), so iPad 3 units having cheaper overall package (due to cheaper backlighting system) can be manufactured.

Hence, both these technologies can be used in producing iPad units that have same specifications but possess different internals. Charles notes that Sharp IGZO panels and Korean amorphous silicon panels have a lot in common. Both of them employ similar LCD technologies and use in-plane switching. In his words “Both have a wide viewing angle and excellent color reproduction. You never know what Apple will do.”

iPad 2 sports a display screen of resolution 1024×768 only. However, next generation iPad is rumored to come with highly upgraded display with resolution of 2048×1536. High power Retina Display would be one of the top power gobbling features of the gadget, so power reduction measures (like required for LED backlighting) can be attractive propositions by Apple.