Monitors sales were at their finest during the early days of the epidemic, owing to changes in habit as people were forced to work from home. However, demand began to dwindle in the third quarter of 2021. 

Not good news for suppliers, but it is excellent news for customers, as less demand should result in lower pricing. Demand for PC displays increased dramatically in the first half of 2020, as people began purchasing them for laptops (notebooks and so on). This demand continues to grow, particularly as a result of work-from-home opportunities, but market researchers at Jon Peddie Research and IDC report that monitor shipments have returned to typical levels.

And according to IDC, around 34.8 million PC screens were sold in the third quarter of 2021, 7.2 percent less than in the same quarter the previous year. This is in stark contrast to the 86.652 million PCs sold in Q3, but given the vast majority of PCs are notebooks, this is unsurprising. Meanwhile, the market for gaming monitors continues to expand. Monitors and gaming machines sold grew to 26.4 million units last year. According to IDC, the combined gaming PC and monitor markets are predicted to increase from $ 43 billion in 2020 to slightly over $ 60 billion in 2025, a 7.4 percent compound annual growth rate. Naturally, scarcity and high pricing are to be expected; IDC forecasts that gaming displays will cost $ 339 in 2020 and will decline to $ 309 in 2025. "There has been considerable interest in monitors operating at 144 Hz or greater," the researcher explained. Additionally, there has been a concerted effort to transition from full HD to 1440 and even 4K. And then there are those stunning curved monitors ranging in size from 34 to 49 inches."

While overall hardware demand increased significantly between 2020 and 2021 and is now slowing, the researchers predict that demand for gaming displays will remain stable.

PC monitor prices may fall as a result of limited demand