infoTECH Feature

June 25, 2014

PC Monitor Shipments Continue to Slide Downwards

According to industry analysts, World PC monitor shipments totaled almost 33.7 million units in the first quarter of 2014. While that number might seem impressive for those not close to the tech world, it actually represents a decline in popularity. The good news is that the decline isn’t all that sharp, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC (News - Alert)) PC Monitor Tracker report. The slip is a decline of -0.4 percent in year over year for the quarter.

The bad news for computer companies is IDC expects the dip in interest will continue, and will bring in just 106 million units shipped by the end of 2018. Phuong Hang, Program Director, Worldwide Trackers at IDC did point out in a statement that the decline was less than what industry analysts had thought the dip would be. Those analysts believed the units shipped would drop to 31 million. He also pointed out that, "Geographically, Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions delivered the largest gains during the first quarter while Dell (News - Alert) and HP both experienced solid shipment growth."

The lack of interest in PCs can be directly blamed on the popularity of smartphones and Tablets. More and more consumers are wanting to do their computing on an even more mobile device than what the laptop can offer, making the desktop all but obsolete when it comes to the average consumer. While industry reports indicate that tablets are getting cheaper, they are lower quality and have lower customer satisfaction than in the past- it seems unlikely that trend will mean that consumers are going to move back to the personal computer in droves.

Rather the PC market is going to have to adjust to the fact that the numbers are always going to drop, it is how the market will be able to hang on to the more loyal customers among them that will mean the difference between less success and complete failure. One part of the PC market that is actually seeing a gain are those monitors that have LED backlit technology. Sales on those monitors grabbed a massive 92 percent of the total market share in the first quarter. That’s a 16.4 percent increase over the same quarter last year.



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