LG Display and Sony are reportedly in talks for a display panel contract, in which Sony would use LG's (IPS)-based panel-making technology. The information was reported by The Korea Times today. According to the report, the LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo confirmed that his firm is talking with Sony for a display panel contract.

CEO Kwon Young-soo said its talks with Sony are being boosted by the credit it received for in-plane switching (IPS)-based panel-making technology used in Apple's iPads.

"LG Display is in discussions with Sony over panels," Kwon said in a meeting with reporters in Seoul, Friday.

Sony's LCD production is currently heavily depends on panels from Samsung. The Japanese company has bought some 50 percent of its LCD panels from its screen joint venture with Samsung Electronics called S-LCD.

LG Display has been mainly using the IPS technology for LCD panel production. In-plane switching (IPS) was developed by Hitachi Ltd. in 1996 to improve on the poor viewing angle and the poor color reproduction of TN panels at that time. LG Display has been using many variations of the IPS technology since 2001, with the latter to be the Enhanced IPS (E-IPS) in 2009. E-IPS LCD panes offered wider aperture for light transmission, enabling the use of lower-power, cheaper backlights, improved diagonal viewing angle and response times of 5ms.

Sony has adopted Samsung's vertical alignment (VA) technology, which offers panels with contrast ratios of up to 3000:1, high black depth, wide viewing angles and fast response times using modern RTC technologies.

In comparison with VA technology, IPS isn't as sharp in terms of lighting, but has a broader view and faster response.

"LG Display will supply the LCD panels using an advanced AH-IPS technology to LG Electronics within this year," Kwon said, adding its decision to build another LCD line was aimed at meeting the rising demand from Apple.

Along with ones for iPads, LG Display has been known to begin shipping its panels for Apple's iPhone 4.