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Gaming monitor market to get more competitive next year

by Mark Tyson on 6 December 2016, 13:01

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357), Acer (TPE:2353), BenQ, Philips (AMS:PHIA), LG, Samsung (005935.KS), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ)

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Shipments of monitors overall have been disappointing in 2016, reports industry journal DigiTimes. The number of monitors shipped hasn't gone up this year, however as 'ordinary' monitor sales have slipped, gaming and enterprise targeted monitors have taken up the slack. With higher average selling prices and margins to be had, gaming monitors have become an increasingly attractive market and next year we will see new players take part in competition in this niche.

Currently the fast-refresh rate gaming monitor market is dominated by Asustek, BenQ and Acer, says DigiTimes. These companies are already aggressively competing, with Asus at the top of the market (35 per cent), followed by Benq, then Acer (at 22-24 per cent and 17-19 per cent respectively). 144Hz gaming monitors are expected to have sold double 2015's figures by the time 2016 is out. Looking at market trends/predictions such gaming monitors are expected to rise in sales volume from 1.2 million in 2016, to 2.5 million next year, and as high as 3.5 million in 2018.

Samsung, LG, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and AOC/Phillips might already make some gaming focussed monitors but will join whole heartedly into the fray next year, says DigiTimes. The usual "sources from the upstream supply chain" have tipped the industry journal of these plans being put into place.

Interestingly, DigiTimes also looks into the most popular gaming monitor sizes. For gamers 24-inch monitors are the most popular, accounting for 70 per cent of all such products sold, and priced mostly between US$299 and $499. The next most popular size for gamers is 27-inch, then 34- to 35-inch models. Curved monitors "have not seen significant shipments in 2016," but are expected to be more popular with gamers next year - possibly off the back of a Samsung gaming monitor promotional push but other vendors are currently promoting and selling curved screens.



HEXUS Forums :: 52 Comments

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might get more competitive

Looks like it'll be business as usual to me, I don't think people replace their monitors often enough to see significant increases in sales volume.
“Monitor manufacturers ‘big up’ next year in fear that monitor sales will drop further due to the economy and HMDs”
virtuo
might get more competitive

Looks like it'll be business as usual to me, I don't think people replace their monitors often enough to see significant increases in sales volume.

To be fair, if all those companies do release high-refresh gaming monitors the market will get more competitive. The level of competition has nothing to do with the size of the market; indeed, adding players to a small static market should have more impact on competition than adding them to a large or growing market.

Whether that will have any subsequent impact on consumers - in lower prices or higher availability, for instance - is questionable.
Due to a change in circumstance I don't think I'll ever get round to buying my “perfect” monitor now. I was holding out for OLED, but it has never arrived.

So I guess I'm wanting:
21:9 30-35" 1080-1440 (depending on the first size).

75Hz+ (I don't need any over inflated numbers, but 60Hz is too slow).

Now we need to add in HDR 10-bit display

Wide viewing angles

And often neglected, high-static contrast ratio (should go hand-in-hand with HDR).

Oh, yeah, and zero lag.

Obviously apart from the resolution, we're beginning to come close to replacing a CRT then.
So manufacturers will start releasing the same monitors that already exist but with gaudy bezels, crappy stands and totally unnecessarily extravagant packaging.

High refresh rate, high resolution, freesync ultra wide at a bargain price and I will bite your hand off. Otherwise I'm ok with what I have.