Edible Apple

Hot on the heels of reports, albeit unsubstantiated, that Apple was scaling back its iPhone display orders comes word via Reuters that Sharp has effectively ceased production on displays for the 4th-gen iPad.

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.

Sharp has stopped shipping iPad panels, the people with knowledge of the near total production shutdown said. The exact level of remaining screen output at Sharp was not immediately clear but it was extremely limited, they said.

It’s hard to know what to make of this given that Apple also sources iPad displays from Samsung and LG Display. Consequently, perhaps the lower throughput of iPad displays at Sharp is nothing more than the to-be-expected seasonal downturn.

via Reuters