Apple Shifts Laptop Battery Business After Recall

by , 6:00 AM EDT, May 25th, 2005

Apple Computer is moving a large part of its laptop battery business to two battery makers in Taiwan after its recent recall of PowerBook batteries, a published report said Thursday.

DigiTimes.com is reporting Taiwan-based lithium-battery specialists DynaPack International Technology and Simplo Technology may "secure more Apple orders" as a result of the recall.

The recalled batteries were developed by South Korean firm LG Chem. Although the report did not name LG Chem by name, it would appear DynaPack and Simplo will pick up a large part of Apple's business, while LG Chem will lose some or all of Apple's battery business.

LG Chem is a subsidiary of the LG Group. LG Electronics is a major manufacturer of Plasma and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). Apple uses LG Electronics displays in many of its laptops, desktops and standalone flat-panel displays.

DynaPack began lithium-batter shipments to Apple for its PowerBook earlier this year, the report said. Simplo has secured a contract with Apple and will start to ship batteries by the end of the year.

Apple Computer is recalling 128,000 notebook batteries from the US market due to an internal short that can cause the battery cells to overheat, posing a fire hazard, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The products affected are Apple's 12-inch and 15-inch PowerBook G4 series and 12-inch iBook G4. Apple stated it has received six reports worldwide of batteries overheating, including two reports in the United States.