Shipments of gaming monitors with a frame rate above 100 hertz totaled about 2.5 million units last year, an 80 percent increase from the previous year, as more vendors turned to profitable products against a shrinking market for traditional LCD monitors, a WitsView report published on Wednesday said.
Since major vendors such as Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁) plan to increase resource allocation to gaming monitors in a bid to boost revenue, overall shipments this year are forecast to increase by another 1 million units to 3.5 million to 3.7 million in total, said WitsView, a flat-panel research team of TrendForce Corp (集邦科技).
“Gaming monitors have been a niche product with a high gross margin. With the continuing expansion of the video game market and the presence of curved gaming monitors with a high performance-price ratio, many LCD monitor makers entered the gaming monitor market,” the report said.
Manufacturers have set positive goals for their gaming monitor shipments due to the continuing expansion of the video game market, strong sales of first-person shooter games, growing investment from brands and the emergence of curved monitors, WitsView senior research manager Anita Wang (王靖怡) said.
In particular, firms with small shipments last year are aiming to double their shipments, she added.
Asustek last year remained the leader in the gaming monitor market with a nearly 30 percent share, followed by Acer, BenQ Corp (明基), TPV Technology Group (冠捷科技集團) and Samsung Electronics Co, WitsView statistics showed.
TPV Group sells AOC and Philips brand monitors globally.
The market is still dominated by Taiwanese vendors, which accounted for more than 70 percent of global shipments last year, tallies showed.
Taiwanese makers remained competitive in the video game industry because they have been dedicated for years, Wang said, adding that the nation’s strength in computer hardware manufacturing and AU Optronics Corp’s (友達) leading role in high frame-rate panels for LCD monitors also contributes to that strength.
However, the fast growth in Samsung’s shipments is worth noticing, Wang said, adding that its market share rose from 5 to 13 percent, driven mainly by its curved gaming monitors.
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