Screen until you like it
Sales of desktop monitors look positive as the market eyes Ultra HD for future improvement, reports Lachlan Welsh
The first half of 2014 has seen the PC market across western Europe improve dramatically, in particular in the UK, and the desktop monitor market was no exception, following in the footsteps of its PC counterpart.
According to our data, desktop monitor sales across UK distribution were up 16.6 per cent year on year with the growth drivers coming from the corporate refresh following extended PC life cycles and the end of XP support.
Consumer-targeted monitors have also enjoyed growth, with budget-conscious consumers able to acquire larger monitors at price points previously reserved for entry-level devices.
Vendors in the business space have enjoyed growth in the channel by positioning their monitors to achieve increased productivity with greater content-creation possibilities, while also keeping operating costs low through energy savings and environmentally friendly models.
The increased content-creation possibilities have become evident through higher resolutions, providing more screen real-estate and higher-quality panels that offer better colour reproduction.
The standard resolution on desktop monitors today is Full HD, accounting for just over two thirds of the UK market in the first half of 2014, although the tide is shifting - with higher resolutions such as WQHD and Ultra HD/4K becoming more popular.
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The Ultra HD monitor market is still in its infancy; early models target professionals working with graphics, photos and videos that demand high resolution. However, cheaper Ultra HD monitors have started to emerge as falling production costs constrict the average selling price.
In the UK, the distributor average selling price of an Ultra HD monitor was pushed down from more than ￡1,100 in Q1 to ￡410 in Q2 2014. These lower-priced Ultra HD monitors can be suitable for office environments, encouraging productivity by increasing what you can see on one screen.
In the consumer segment, momentum is slowly building. Consumers have become more aware, with the 4K evolution in home TV, but what are they meant to watch?
In recent years mobile devices have been held responsible for the overall decline in the monitor market, but they have also built up user expectations of higher-quality displays.
Monitors with improved panel technology, such as in-plane switching (IPS), are becoming increasingly popular among businesses and consumers alike, as they see the improved viewing angles and better colour reproduction as a clear advantage over the alternatives.
Our data shows that more IPS monitors are being sold through UK distributors; sales grew 97 per cent in Q2 2014 year on year, accounting for 17 per cent of the market.
Aggressive pricing and promotions continue to drive consumer sales, limiting LCD monitor margins. The most bought consumer-sized monitor, the 24in, saw its distributor average selling price drop below ￡100 in the first half, nine per cent down from the previous year's quarter.
Although overall average selling price has been stagnant this past year, as greater volumes of larger-screen monitors have benefited as fewer cheaper, smaller monitors were sold. So individual prices for specific screen sizes have fallen.
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Improvements in mobile device connectivity are continuing, with alternatives such as MHL, USB 3.0 and wireless becoming more evident. Although our data suggests the consumer market has been first to enjoy these improvements, businesses too are expected to benefit from these interfaces in future.
In coming years Ultra HD should make the biggest impact on the monitor world. It is predicted that the benefits of Ultra HD will be particularly felt in the business space, where the advantage of displaying more content per screen will lead to increased productivity and further opportunities for the channel.
Lachlan Welsh is a research analyst at Context