The tablet display market will see an annual increase of 56% in 2012, as a result of tablets such as the iPad and 7-inch plus models from many different brands.

According to research by IHS iSuppli, tablet display shipments are expected to reach 126.6 million units, which is up from the total of 82.1 million units in 2011. The majority of shipments, approximately 74.3 million units will be from the 9-inch tablet segment. The growth in this segment stands at 35% up from 55.2 million units in 2011.

The next most important display size is the 7-inch plus category. These include manufacturers like Samsung which use the display for its smaller Galaxy Tab, the Kindle Fire from Amazon, the Nook from Barnes and Noble and others. Shipments of the 7-inch tablets display will be approximately 41.1 million units, double from the 20.8 million units last year.

With these numbers, it is safe to conclude that the 7-inch category will control 32% of the display space in 2012, compared to 265 in 2011. The 9-inch display space will continue to lead the panel space. The rest of the tablet panel market will see 8-inch screens grabbing 9% of the market and 5-inch screens with less than 1% market share.

LG and Samsung are the main suppliers for tablet displays and the giants saw a 42% and 38% market share Q1 respectively. The iPad continued to dominate the tablet space with 58% of all tablet shipments in Q1.