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Santa Clara, Calif. — Falling production costs and expected lower average selling prices (ASPs) should help drive growth in 4K Ultra HD desktop monitor unit shipments this year, NPD DisplaySearch predicted.
The market research firm’s “Quarterly Desktop Monitor Shipment and Forecast Report” found that despite declining global demand in overall desktop monitors to 133 million units in 2014, 4K Ultra HD monitor shipments should reach 2 million units, and by 2017 shipments are forecast to reach approximately 8 percent of the market.
The average selling price for a 4K monitor is forecast to decline from $1,347 in 2014 to $927 in 2017, DisplaySearch said.
“Increased 4K-class monitor shipment volume will depend on how far and how fast ASPs decline,” stated Hidetoshi Himuro, NPD DisplaySearch PC and IT research director. “Although manufacturers hope to raise prices for 4K-enabled monitors, price competition has already begun.”
4K monitors are targeted at applications including computer graphics, photo processing, CAD/CAM, and multi-operation environments; however, as average selling prices decline, the 4K market will expand to encompass standard office operations that require more data on a single screen.
The majority (56 percent) of 4K monitor demand in 2014 will come from advanced regions, like Japan, North America and Western Europe.
Initial 4K Ultra HD monitors from Sharp, ASUS, Dell and other brands include 23.8-inch, 28-inch and 31.5-inch sizes.
With many Ultra HD monitors smaller than 30 inches launching in 2014, 27 inches is expected to be the average Ultra HD monitor display size.
“During CES Lenovo, LGE and Samsung all made 4K monitor announcements, and we can expect several more from other brands this year, as well,” Himuro said. “Sharp, Innolux, LGD, AUO and Samsung will be the leading 4K monitor panel suppliers in 2014.”