IDC Lowers Forecast Growth for PC Monitors

Continued decline in demand for PC desktops has forced International Data Corporation (IDC) to lower its estimate of PC monitors shipped in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13) to 33.8 million units, down from its previous forecast of 34.7 million units for the quarter.

In the latest update of the Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker, IDC also lowered its total shipment forecast for 2013 from 140.1 million units to 134.4 million units, which will represent a 9.9% year-on-year decline. By 2017, worldwide shipments are expected to drop further to 113.6 million units.

"The continued decline in PC desktops is bringing about changes in strategy and product focus in the PC monitor market," said Jennifer Song, Research Analyst at IDC.

"With Windows 8 operating system, we expect to see more touch-based monitors although price points are a little high. Average screen size of the market is also expected to increase to 21.4" in 2017 from 20.4" in 2012."

On technology highlights, LED Backlight technology holds 69.2% of market share with 26.6 million units compared to CCFL backlight. This represents a year-over-year increase of 15.7 percentage points from 2012 Q1 with 20.5 million units.

 Aspect Ratio 16:9 continues to dominate with about 75% market share, which is more than four times the second most widely used aspect ratio of 16:10. TV tuners in monitors are expected to grow to 7.6% share by 2017 from 5.7% share in 2013.

Vendor Highlights
Samsung – Samsung continued to be the number 1 ranked vendor in 1Q13 with worldwide market share of 14.4% despite a year-over-year decline of -19.6% on shipments of 4.8 million units.

Dell - Dell actually had positive year-over-year growth of 31% in Latin America despite a decline of -9.1% worldwide. Dell also ranked number one in the United States and Japan, with market shares of 49% and 51%, respectively.

HP – Despite being ranked number 3 worldwide, HP was the number 2 vendor in five out of eight regional markets.

LG – LG ranked number 1 in the Latin America market for 1Q13, representing 37% share. This is a move up in ranking from last year, when Samsung held the number 1 position in the region.

AOC – AOC is the only vendor in the Top 5 that saw positive year-over-year growth of 1.5% at a worldwide level.