DigiTimes reported that motherboard shipments will decline by 10% in 2018, based on reports from major vendors. However, the largest producers see the gaming market as an opportunity to make up for losses.
The editors of DigiTimes reported that the continuous decline in motherboard sales has been going on for 4 years, when in 2013 their number reached 75 million. “Until”, because compared to the data from 2017 (43 million) such a result is knocking down. The reason for such turbulences is the declining demand for self-assembled computers – it is estimated that in 2018 it will drop by 15%. So it seems that more and more people choose prepared sets, laptops or even smartphones.
Ultimately, motherboard sales in 2018 are expected to drop to 40 million, another ten percent compared to the previous year. However, their producers are trying to compensate for the losses with … gaming models. In terms of basic designs, these are much more expensive and are increasingly chosen by users, which may positively affect the number of copies sold. Interesting to note is the fact that Asus with its Republic of Gamers series has the largest share in this sector, as much as 70 percent.
Ultimately, all manufacturers plan to increase the supply of their motherboards and this raises the question, because it is not known whether they will abandon the budget market in favor of (more expensive) gaming or maybe they will simply provide more varied products. This, in turn, could cast a shadow on their prices and hopefully they will drop. I don’t think anyone wants a repeat of the recent price increases of DDR4 memory.
Source: techpowerup.com, digitimes.com
