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Tired of chunky CRT monitors taking up space on their desks, users are increasingly turning to flat-panel LCDs instead, according to a new study.

LCD sales increased 8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002 to the first quarter this year, research company DisplaySearch says. Shipments of 10.6 million units gave LCDs a 37 percent share of the display market, up from 30 percent the previous quarter, according to the Austin, Texas, research company.

Cutting Into CRTs

Sales grew for both stand-alone LCDs and units that come bundled with PCs, but sales of stand-alone displays grew twice as fast, the company says.

The move to LCDs meant a decline for CRT monitor sales. CRT shipments fell 21 percent from the fourth quarter of 2002 to the first quarter of 2003, and 16 percent from a year ago, DisplaySearch reports. Total CRT sales for the year were 17.8 million units, accounting for 62 percent of all shipments, the company says.

A final 0.9 percent of shipments is accounted for by LCD PCs, in which the screen is built in to the computer itself. This is the case with some of Apple's systems, says Sung Eun Park, an analyst with DisplaySearch.

Overall, desktop monitor sales fell 12 percent quarter on quarter and 1 percent over the year to 28.6 million units. Samsung Electronics was the top desktop monitor supplier, with 13.5 percent. Dell followed close behind with 13.4 percent, and Hewlett-Packard had 8.5 percent.

Biggest Markets, Vendors

Europe was the fastest-growing market, expanding 19 percent, while sales in North America fell 3 percent. The changes helped Europe overtake North America as the largest LCD monitor market, DisplaySearch says.

By size, shipments of 15-inch displays fell 5 percent, while 17-inch SXGA LCD shipments rose 41 percent, driven mainly by growth of 54 percent in Europe, DisplaySearch says.

Dell boosted its share of the worldwide LCD market to 16 percent in the first quarter, up from 14.7 percent in the same period a year earlier, DisplaySearch reports. The company remained the top vendor in North America and boosted its position from second place to first place in Europe. Its market share ranking fell in Japan, however, from fifth to sixth.

Samsung was the number two LCD vendor worldwide in the first quarter, although its share fell from 9.6 percent to 8.9 percent, DisplaySearch says. Third-place HP saw its share of the world market rise from 5 percent to 7.5 percent.