There is no word as of yet whether or not this will at all affect iPhone production or supply, but it does reek of bad news. Here’s a tip, don’t get the supply deal of a lifetime and then ruin it with some minor shady business practices.

I get that Balda, the German company whom is rumored to be the supplier of the iPhone screens, saw this large of an order for their products as a way to get out of the pattern of losses they kept having to report, but when you are the supplier of a major component for one of the best selling products of the year, you don’t cut corners. Most importantly you don’t do anything that gets you any unnecessary attention.

I won’t go into the details of what they did, mainly because it’s all a bunch of financial garb, but the gist of it is, they are doing some things that are generally considered bad business practices, which could net them undue attention from governing authorities if they don’t have a good explanation. In the end, there are a few other manufacturers capable of supplying the necessary screens for the iPhone on par with the quality of the ones Balda was supplying, so if they fix things, Apple will probably switch.

iPhone touchscreen supplier under scrutiny [via macnn]