PC Sales Declines Six Years In A Row

Wire

PC Sales Declines Six Years In A Row

Gartner continues to report declining worldwide PC sales based on shipments, with the quarter ending 2017 seeing 13 consecutive quarter of drop. Total shipment for the year recorded at 262.5 million a 2.8 percent decline compared to the previous year.

It was the 13th consecutive quarter of declining global PC sales, as well as the sixth year of annual declines. However, there were some signs for optimism. “In the fourth quarter of 2017, there was PC shipment growth in Asia/Pacific, Japan and Latin America. There was only a moderate shipment decline in EMEA,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

HP and Lenovo dominate the overall market share with a combined 42% grip on sales followed by Dell with 15%, out of the three only Lenovo saw a decline in its overall sales. The Asia/Pacific PC market totaled 25 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 0.6 % increase from the fourth quarter of 2016. The consumer market stabilised with fourth-quarter online promotions in many countries, which drove demand for gaming PCs and thin and light notebooks. China experienced its first positive PC shipment growth since the first quarter of 2012. The success of the 11.11 shopping festival and the continuing demand for PCs in the commercial market drove the China PC market to 1.1 percent growth in the quarter.

Demand continues to grow for ultra thin and gaming notebooks with more powerful devices gets rolled out, but these are predominately more expensive thus would not be increasing the volume in shipments. However 2018 will be challenging for PC vendors as Intel, the main partner in charting the future for the products is facing vulnerability issues with its chipset security. But options are around the corner with AMD making a comeback into consumer space and Qualcomm making an entry into the PC business.