While global demand for LCD monitors keeps decreasing, Acer expect its LCD monitor shipments to be stable in 2017, with the corresponding average selling price (ASP) to hike as a result of a stronger focus on gaming models, according to the company's Display business general manager Victor Chien.
Chien noted that increasing LCD panel quotes have caused small- to medium-size monitor prices to rise, impacting demand for this type of monitor. As a result, global monitor sales in 2017 are expected to decline 4-7% compared to 2016 since consumers shopping for monitors in this size segment are more price-conscious.
As for trends for the monitor market, large-size and curved monitors will continue to be the key development directions. Currently, small to medium-size models refer to monitors smaller than 21.5-inch, while the mainstream size is now 24-inch and still growing larger.
Demand for curved monitors is also ncreasing. They used to account for only 1% of Acer's shipments, but the percentage is now 3%, Chien said.
As for whether the panel quotes will start dropping in the second half of 2017, Chien believes the pricing trend will mainly depend on LCD TV sales and panel suppliers' business directions. Sharp's business strategy has changed after the takeover by Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), which has had a great impact on the display product market.
Acer also expects its gaming monitors to drive shipment growth and its newly announced Predator X27 gaming monitor featuring Nvidia's G-Sync HDR, Acer's HDR Ultra technology and Ultra HD resolution support , is expected to stimulate demand from the gaming market.
The Predator X27's eyeball tracking feature has also satisfied demand of some gamers and Acer is looking to provide a complete product lineup to win consumers' recognition.
In addition to the consumer segment, the enterprise segment is also a key target for Acer. Chien pointed out that the enterprise monitor market is larger than the consumer one because inexpensive notebooks have taken away some demand for consumer monitors. Since consumers from the enterprise sector have demand for multi-screen and 21:9 ratio models, Acer has already prepared models looking to satisfy the business opportunities.
As for whether head-mounted displays (HMDs) for virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR) applications will impact sales for traditional display products, Chien said that he is not worried. For LCD displays, HMDs are actually complementary products. Since HMDs' main applications are currently still for entertainment and gaming, and traditional monitors' growth will be mainly driven by enterprise demand, HMD's impact will be limited. |