A Sudden Decline in YoY Shipments
Trendforce evaluated the current market position of gaming monitors from the year 2019 – 2023 (estimated). The data may be subject to small discrepancies. From 2019-2020, the E-Sports monitor market saw a massive 105% jump in sales. This trend carried over to 2021, with 24% more sales than 2020. However, in 2022 we see a 10% decline in sales. One may argue that 2020–2021 was the apex of this market and was guaranteed to see a fall akin to the GPU & CPU industry. While that is true, a primary reason could be the rising inflation as well. Many believe we’re currently undergoing a recession with the global economy tanking post-Covid.
Market Share
Trendforce gave us a few statistics for the market share divided amongst various types of monitors. Curved monitors took up almost 41% of the total sales in 2021. With 2022, this number increased to 44% and we’re expecting a 46% market share by 2023. In terms of panels, the infamous TN panels made up just 9% of the total sales in 2021, IPS at 43% and VA panels at 48%. Trendforce estimates that in 2022, TN panels will make up for just 4% of the total monitor sales, IPS at 44% and VA panels will increase their lead to 52%.
A Possible Solution
Trendforce speculated that this decline can be overcome by cheaper panels increasing the competition in the market. If we consider the new-market, many 75Hz panels are still overpriced, which as per Trendforce can be replaced by better 100Hz panels. Besides, many currencies have seen massive depreciation in the past few years. That in addition with the heavy duties levied on gaming monitors can increase prices by almost 2x. We expect to see more competition in the E-Sports monitor market in the upcoming years. The only factor is the pricing. However, even with the TV market as technology became cheaper and more accessible, the prices plummeted. In fact, most TV manufacturers are selling their products at extremely low margins aiming for more sales.
