According to IDC, the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) PC monitor market totaled 39.8 mln units in 2005, representing an increase of 15.6% over 2004. Despite the ongoing shifts to notebooks, standalone PC monitors continued to experience strong sales through upgrades and replacements, as well as desktop bundling. Branded market vendors for standalone monitors grew 9.1% in unit shipments in 2005 over 2004, and OEM (bundled) monitors grew more rapidly at 25.0% over the same period. Strong LCD growth in the OEM market in 2005 was a major highlight, with shipments exceeding CRT sales, which remained flat over 2004.
The top six branded PC monitor vendors contributed 80.0% of the overall standalone monitor sales in the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) region in 2005. Samsung, which topped the market in 2004, held on to the number one vendor position in the branded monitor market for 2005 at 28.0%. Likewise, LG Electronics retained its second spot at 15.4% with Philips making a very close third behind LG. Further down the rankings, Viewsonic and AOC captured fourth and fifth spots respectively, with an immense push by both these vendors in 2005; Viewsonic grew 46.8% over 2004, and AOC by 41.4%. This strong growth is expected to continue into 2006 for Viewsonic and AOC as both vendors have established their positions in the branded PC monitor display business. BenQ finished sixth, after posting nearly identical sales to 2004.