Apple iPad display shipments plunged by an alarming 81% in January 2013 says iSuppli, this can be attributed to various reasons including a global fall in demand for large LCD displays. Apple in general has a commitment of minimum number of display purchases per year from its suppliers to get a better pricing so this might be effect of an adjustment made due to lesser demand of large screen iPads and heavy orders in December 2012. The suppliers will manufacture only the difference amount of displays in January. The phenomenon is not unique only for iPad displays but the same trend has been witnessed across other sized tablet displays as well including the 8.9″ displays used for Kindle Fire HD which declined by a even higher percentage of 91%.
Tablet shipments fell by 26% in January compared to the holiday month of December which is quite a natural trend considering the huge demand in holiday season, but the same figure is 14% higher compared to same month of previous year. The only exception in the LCD panel displays seems to be the 7.9″ display which is used in the iPad mini, the demand for iPad mini displays increased by 14% in January which shows the strong demand iPad mini has currently.
Analysts predict a similar trend to continue for the remaining months of the year but not to an extent that January faced, sales figures have been reiterated by almost all analysts after witnessing a rapid decline in demand for iPad and huge demand for iPad mini.