Sharp Reportedly Cutting iPad Display Production Amid Shift in Consumer Interest to iPad Mini

[MacRumors]

Reuters reports that Sharp, one of Apple's primary display panel partners for its mobile devices, has slashed production of iPad displays at one of its plants. Sources did not indicate the reasons for the dramatic cut, but it appears to be a combination of a shift in consumer interest to the smaller iPad mini and a natural seasonal slowdown coming out of the holiday quarter.

Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple Inc's iPad, two sources said, as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.

Sharp's iPad screen production line at its Kameyama plant in central Japan has fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012 as Apple manages its inventory, the industry sources with knowledge of Sharp's production plans told Reuters.

Apple also obtains iPad display panels from Samsung and LG Display, with a source at Samsung indicating that there has been no production cut there and a source at LG suggesting that any production cuts there were in line with typical seasonality.

Reports of cutbacks in iPad component production come close on the heels of reports that Apple has slashed orders for iPhone 5 parts, although there have been significant questions about the figures cited in those reports and whether the decline actually represents a weakening of demand.

Article Link: Sharp Reportedly Cutting iPad Display Production Amid Shift in Consumer Interest to iPad Mini

[japanime]

Will be interesting to see how the stock market reacts to this latest news.

[newdeal]

maybe they are transitioning production in these factories to IGZO

[dlewis23]

Originally Posted by newdeal

maybe they are transitioning production in these factories to IGZO

That would be a good reason.

[BornAgainApple]

And investors will overreact once again.

[KdParker]

Guess we will see what happens when the iPad mini have retina displays.

Looks like they might be more popular (largely based on price I would assume.)

[1080p]

Apple is DOOMED™

[Radio]

Saturated market?

I hope we see some price drops or at least the removal of a 16 gb iPad but 32, 64, & 128 for the same $

I read elsewhere that the nexus 7 is outselling the iPad mini in other countries

[Rogifan]

"Sources did not indicate the reasons for the dramatic cut..."

So MacRumors will just make something up. What is it with this site these days?

[kas23]

Doomed. Let's see how they react to this:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/18/inve...source=cnn_bin

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by japanime

Will be interesting to see how the stock market reacts to this latest news.

No hard facts, unnamed sources, zero context, pure assumption. I'd hardly call this news.

[lozpop]

Jonny Evans explains the cut of displays production: Apple is preparing new displays.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/smart...july-iphone-5s

What do you think?

[Four oF NINE]

I find the iPad classic preferable to the smaller size.

[simon.hibbs]

Originally Posted by 1080p

Apple is DOOMED™

Apple.
Proudly going out of business since 1976.

Simon Hibbs

[needfx]

the normal sized ipad team should start getting worried.

[Mike MA]

And so? There has been cannibalization within the Apple product line ever since.

[Navdakilla]

Sound the alarms!!!!!

[polbit]

I still find it funny that the product Jobs said nobody wanted it stealing the tablet show at Apple by most accounts. Even though Mini is not for me at this point, I'm still happy that Apple is giving the customer the choice. Now if they could only do the same with the iPhone...

[Ray Brady]

Originally Posted by polbit

I still find it funny that the product Jobs said nobody wanted...

That's not what he said.

[madsci954]

They won't make an iPad Mini they said.
It will fail hard they said.

[simon.hibbs]

Originally Posted by polbit

I still find it funny that the product Jobs said nobody wanted it stealing the tablet show at Apple by most accounts. Even though Mini is not for me at this point, I'm still happy that Apple is giving the customer the choice. Now if they could only do the same with the iPhone...

Steve chose his words very carefully. The aspect ratio and larger diagonal together mean the mini has about 40% more screen space than the android 7" tablets he was talking about.

At it's current size, the standard iOS on screen interface elements are a shade over the minimum touch target size Apple recommends as usable, based on their usability research. That's not true of the Android tablets.

Steve knew his stuff.

Simon Hibbs

[lozpop]

Originally Posted by polbit

I still find it funny that the product Jobs said nobody wanted...

Jobs talked about 7 inches tablets, the iPad mini is 8 inches — a huge difference in terms of user experience.

In fact now it seems that Samsung is planning an 8 inch tablet to compete.

[KnightWRX]

Originally Posted by Ray Brady

That's not what he said.

The exact quote is this :

Apple has done expensive user testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff.

There are clear limits of how close you can place physical elements on a touch screen, before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps.

--Steve Jobs

So yeah, "Steve would never have shipped an iPad Mini" is quite accurate (though I know Steve was one of the biggest flip-floppers around... iPod Video after "People don't want to watch video on a small screen" and "People don't read anymore" a year before iBookStore).

----------

Originally Posted by madsci954

They won't make an iPad Mini they said.
It will fail hard they said.

Steve said. Steve's dead.

----------

Originally Posted by simon.hibbs

Steve chose his words very carefully. The aspect ratio and larger diagonal together mean the mini has about 40% more screen space than the android 7" tablets he was talking about.

At it's current size, the standard iOS on screen interface elements are a shade over the minimum touch target size Apple recommends as usable, based on their usability research. That's not true of the Android tablets.

Steve knew his stuff.

Steve said 10 inch minimum. Steve said the iPad Mini was bad, even at 7.9 inch. Because 7.9 < 10. So what you said flies in the face of Steve's "knowledge".

Too bad the Internet is so good at remembering quotes uh ?

----------

Originally Posted by lozpop

Jobs talked about 7 inches tablets, the iPad mini is 8 inches — a huge difference in terms of user experience.

In fact now it seems that Samsung is planning an 8 inch tablet to compete.

Jobs talked about everything less than 10 inches. *taps the quote*.

[vmachiel]

This just in: Infinite growth impossible: Wall street keeps struggling with this reality.

[mac1984user]

Originally Posted by Radio

I read elsewhere that the nexus 7 is outselling the iPad mini in other countries

I tend to see a lot of Nexus 7s these days when commuting on the train. It's not a sign of any kind of sales trajectory necessarily, but I'm always kind of shocked to see non-Apple tablets out in the open - it seems to be more of a regular occurrence these days (perhaps for good reasons). I was half tempted by a Nexus and bought the 4th gen iPad instead due to the apps I already own for it. There's no doubt, however, that my next phone will be the Nexus 4. =)

I wonder if Apple will be able to say that they cannibalised the iPad 4 market with the Mini or if they'll start acknowledging the actual (or potential) impact the reasonably priced Android tablets are starting to have.