The gaming graphics card market saw an unexpected decline in the third quarter of 2024, with sales dropping 14.5% compared to the previous quarter, according to a new report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR). This downturn breaks the typical pattern of Q3 sales increases, as consumers appear to be holding off purchases ahead of anticipated next-generation GPU launches from Nvidia and AMD in early 2025.
Dedicated graphics card shipments fell to 8.1 million units in Q3 2024, marking the lowest sales figures since Q2 2023. The decline comes despite healthy desktop CPU shipments of 20.1 million units during the same period.
Market leader Nvidia managed to strengthen its dominant position, capturing an additional 2% market share from AMD. The current split stands at 90% for Nvidia and 10% for AMD, while Intel remains absent from the discrete GPU market.
The ratio between desktop CPUs and discrete GPUs also showed concerning trends. The attachment rate declined both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, with Q3 2024 seeing 8.1 million GPU shipments compared to 20.1 million CPUs. This represents a stark -26.9% change from the previous quarter's figures.
Industry analysts attribute this decline to several factors, including more powerful integrated graphics solutions and rising discrete GPU prices. However, the main driver appears to be consumer reluctance to invest in current-generation cards with new hardware on horizon.
Looking ahead, JPR's forecast paints a challenging picture for the GPU industry. The research firm projects a compound annual growth rate of -6.0% for discrete GPU sales between 2024 and 2028. This outlook factors in potential economic headwinds, including proposed tariffs that could substantially increase consumer electronics prices.
The current market slowdown highlights changing consumer behavior and broader economic uncertainties facing the gaming hardware industry as it approaches a major product transition period.