IDC: Number of monitors delivered falls for the first time since early 2020

The number of monitors delivered worldwide decreased in the past quarter. That’s according to analyst firm IDC. This brings the uninterrupted growth of the previous five quarters to an end. The decrease could be partly due to less demand in Western Europe.

In the third quarter of 2021, 34.8 million monitors were delivered, IDC reports. This is 7.2 percent less than a year earlier and for the first time since the first quarter of 2020 that the number of deliveries is not higher than a year earlier. Particularly in key markets such as North America and Western Europe, the decline would be significant, mainly due to lower consumer demand. In Asia-Pacific, demand would still be solid.

Although consumers worldwide are buying fewer monitors, according to the analysts, companies are somewhat compensating for this drop in demand. According to IDC, more employees are now going to the office, which would increase the demand for monitors among companies. That is why companies that supply a lot to offices, such as Dell and Lenovo, were still able to show growth compared to a year earlier.

Problems in the supply chain and chip shortages are said to have caused deliveries to companies to fall by two percent compared to a year earlier. Within the consumer market this would be 12 percent. IDC believes that due to the reduced demand, prices for monitor components will stabilize and shipments will decline further. 143 million monitors are expected to be delivered this year; 4.6 percent more than a year earlier and a record since 2012. Next year the number of deliveries is likely to fall by about two percent, in subsequent years the number of deliveries will stabilize, IDC expects.