The fast-growing billion dollar global eSports economy drove worldwide gaming monitor sales up 175% in the second quarter of 2017 compared to the previous year, while worldwide shipments of desktop monitors declined by 3%, driven by lower sales in China, according to analysts Context.
Sales performance across the world varied considerably by region, the company says. Desktop monitor shipments to EMEA grew by 5%, driven by CEE, which saw 12% growth. North America and Japan saw shipments up 2% and 4% respectively. However, those to the rest of the world, 52% of the total, declined, with the biggest market, China, decreasing by 11% year-on-year. The decline was greatest in the business desktop monitor segment, dropping 4%, while the fall in consumer-based sales was smaller at 3%.
“Despite the overall negative trend, there are significant opportunities for growth,” says Dominika Koncewicz,
senior analyst for Displays at Context. ” These are due to factors such as a shift to larger, more expensive screens, the rising sales of curved monitors, higher resolution displays, and the growing demand for wider 21:9 monitors as well as the demand for gaming monitors.”

Full-HD monitors remain the dominant resolution accounting for two-thirds of global shipments. WQHD screen sales are growing at 58% year-on-year, while Ultra HD monitors still represent a small portion of the market. However, with a 77% year-on-year sales increase, this has become the fastest growing resolution category.
Dell retained its position as the top vendor in Q2 2017 with a 19% unit share of the total market, while HP and Lenovo followed with shares of 14% and 10% respectively.