New data may reveal Apple's 2013 holiday iPad model sales mix

Sales of the non-Retina iPad mini may have nearly matched those of its higher-resolution sibling over the holidays as consumers chose the more diminutive tablet in equal proportions to Apple's full-size slates, according to a Friday report.

Apple is believed to have ordered just over 30 million iPad display panels in the holiday quarter, according to data compiled by supply chain watchers WitsView and reported by Digitimes. The company sold a record 27 million tablets over that period, with the nearly 4 million unit difference likely attributable to channel inventory.

Of those panels, 6 million are believed to have been for the first-generation iPad mini, 7.49 million for the iPad mini with Retina display, and 17 million for Apple's 9.7-inch iPads. The report does not differentiate between the new flagship iPad Air and the still-available iPad 2.

WitsView believes that Apple's iPad orders will drop to 25.8 million units in the second quarter of 2014. The company seems to anticipate a decline in first-generation iPad mini sales, ordering just 4.4 million panels for the tablet versus 7.4 millon for the Retina display-equipped variant and 14 million 9.7-inch panels.

Sales often dip in the first post-holiday quarter, though that forecast would still represent the iPad's second-strongest quarter ever.