IDC PC Monitor Trends: IPS and 21.5-Inch Most Popular, Curved Displays Get Traction
by Anton Shilov on October 3, 2019 5:00 PM EST
Sales of large displays and/or gaming displays have been increasing in the past few years, but recently monitor manufacturers have also rolled-out oversized displays and curved LCDs for their clientele. But while the market install base of such advanced displays is growing, the most popular monitors still measure 21.5 inches, according to analysts from IDC. Meanwhile, IPS LCD panels now dominate the market, leaving TN and VA behind.
IDC market researchers expect 122 million PC monitors to ship in 2019, down 1% from the previous year. In Q2, sales of PC displays totaled around 30 million units, driven by migration of commercial desktops to Windows 10 yet offset by manufacturers’ focus on premium gaming and curved LCDs and their emphasis shift away from volumes to focus on higher ASP growth.
Based on data from IDC, displays featuring a 21.5-inch diagonal are still the most popular, and analysts expect that populatity to stick until 2023, where it sees the 23.8-inch market becoming top. Whether this popularity stems from the screen size or the price of the display is another matter entirely. As larger displays are manufactured in larger quantities, in a commodity market, eventually pricing of the larger displays is reduced.
Nonetheless, sales of curved monitors (which mostly belong to the premium segment) grew 44.7% year-over-year in the second quarter. It is believed (by some other analysts) that half of all curved displays are designed for gamers, which means that these displays offer advanced features and might command a significant premium because of that market.
It is also noteworthy that IDC reports that IPS-based LCDs now account for about 50% of the market, trailed by TN and VA panels, which inidicates demand for higher-quality displays is growing. The one market that TN panels still held was for fast refresh rates, but so-called ‘Fast IPS’ panels have entered the market which have refresh rates of up to 240 Hz while offering great viewing angles and saturated colors, so it remains to be seen how the panel market develops in the coming years.
As far as monitor manufacturers are concerned, Dell retained its No. 1 position in Q2 with a 21.4% market share followed by HP with a 15.2% share. TPV, the only Top 5 display maker that managed to significantly boost its shipments in the second quarter, commanded 14.4% of the market trailed by Lenovo with a 10% share as well as LG with a 8.2% share.
| Top 5 PC Monitor Makers Q2 2019, IDC |
|||||||
| Q2 2019 | Q2 2018 | Q2 2018-> Q2 2019 |
|||||
| Sales | Share | Sales | Share | Growth | |||
| Dell | 6.4 million | 21.4% | 6.4 million | 20.7% | 1.1% | ||
| HP | 4.6 million | 15.2% | 4.7 million | 15.2% | -1.9% | ||
| TPV | 4.3 million | 14.4% | 4.0 million | 13.0% | 8.9% | ||
| Lenovo | 3.0 million | 10.0% | 3.2 million | 10.4% | -5.8% | ||
| LG | 2.5 million | 8.2% | 2.5 million | 8.3% | -3.3% | ||
| Others | 9.2 million | 30.7% | 10.0 million | 32.4% | -7.3% | ||
| Total | 30.1 million | 100% | 30.7 million | 100.0% | -2.2% | ||
This information is derived from recent IDC press releases. IDC offers the full report.
Related Reading
- Sales of High Refresh Gaming Displays Skyrocketing, Curved Gaming LCDs Prevail
- HP Launches Their S430c 43.4-Inch Ultrawide Curved Display
- Need for Speed: The LG UltraGear (27GN750) 240 Hz IPS Monitor with G-Sync
- Lenovo’s ThinkVision S28u-10: A 4K Business Display
- ASUS ProArt PA32UCG: The Ultimate Mini LED 4K 120 Hz Monitor with HDR 1600
Source: IDC
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hansmuff - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
I'm all in favor of the concept of curved screens once they approach a certain size, but christ, curved 32" makes zero sense to me.Curved doesn't only introduce benefits, there are also issues. If you use that at home and then regular screens at work, that's gonna suck, for instance. I have a few coworkers complaining about that.
imaheadcase - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
What? Curved is BETTER at bigger screens. Most people make a point to get them when they are 32+ inches curved. Its why most are curved at that size.A few coworkers is not a sample size, they also are prob using crappy screens at work vs home so of course its going to be a difference to anyone curved or not.
Death666Angel - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
"What? Curved is BETTER at bigger screens. Most people make a point to get them when they are 32+ inches curved. Its why most are curved at that size."And that is exactly what he said. "in favor of the concept [...] once they approach a certain size". So clearly, 32" seems to small for him, but larger would make sense with a curved display.
Your user name continues to be true.
DanNeely - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
Aspect ratio's also a factor. I wouldn't want a curved 32" 16:9. If I was getting a 32:9 superwide curved would be more or less mandatory for the same reason that the pair of monitors used at my main work displays are angled to each other.evanh - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
I haven't tried actually using one but curved makes theoretical sense with large VA panels because they just don't have the viewing angle that IPS has.edzieba - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
That's honestly pretty surprising to me. I haven't seen a sub-23" screen purchased in the last 7 years, and that's covering about 40k screen installs over that time. 23" remains the standard, but 27" and ultrawide 34" are making big inroads (and one or the other becoming the new standard once a decision is made).rrinker - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
Yeah, I've upgraded all mine to larger than 21.5 a while ago. Another factor is age - a 21.5" at 1080 is actually too small for me to use comfortably now. 23-24" is usable, 26-27" is the easiest on my eyes. 27" at 2K is too small again, have to set the scaling to 125% on the one I have at home but where it is, there is no easy way to implement a dual setup. I thought I could manage with a higher resolution single larger display, but nope, not quite. Too used to multiple displays. Thankfully I have dual displays at work as well.Icehawk - Friday, October 4, 2019 - link
depressingly my current workplace (mid size bank) still purchases 20" monitors with 768 resolution. It's friggin terrible. At least my last place was using 24" 1080 monitors. I'll admit though the most recent monitor I bought was a 22" (I think) 1080 but it's for my wife who just reads emails occasionally and doesn't have a lot of space so I skipped going a bit bigger/higher rez and save a couple bucks.Beaver M. - Saturday, October 5, 2019 - link
Companies buy those formats for the normal workstation.