BackThe fall and fall of worldwide PC shipments
While IDC said global PC shipments fell by 11.8%, Gartner was slightly more optimistic, putting the decline at 9.5%
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New Delhi: The personal computer (PC) industry is facing a slowdown with sales falling worldwide in the second quarter of 2015, according to two reports released last week. While International Data Corp. (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker said global PC shipments fell by 11.8%, Gartner Inc. was slightly more optimistic, putting the decline at 9.5%.
IDC mentions that global PC shipments totalled 66.1 million units. This represented a year-on-year decline of 11.8%, about 1% below projections for the quarter. Gartner, on the other hand, reports that worldwide PC shipments totalled 68.4 million units in the second quarter of 2015, a 9.5% decline from the second quarter of 2014. This has been the steepest PC shipment decline since the third quarter of 2013.
Both IDC and Gartner agree that PC shipments are set to tumble further, with Gartner projecting full-year shipments falling 4.4%. IDC expects low-to-mid single-digit declines in the second half of 2015, before volumes stabilize in future years.
Reasons for decline
IDC and Gartner highlight a number of reasons for the decline of PC shipments. These include inventory reductions ahead of the Windows 10 launch that is slated for 29 July, sharp appreciation of the US dollar that has led to higher overseas prices and stronger year-ago shipments relating to end of support for Windows XP. Also, increasing usage of smartphones and tablets appears to be taking a toll on PC upgrade rates.
However, analysts emphasized that these are temporary events and will not change the structure of the PC market. So, even though the PC industry is going through a decline, the market is expected to go back to slow and steady growth in 2016.
The top five
Lenovo held on to the number one slot with shipments of 13.4 million units. The vendor continued to aggressively court expansion outside Asia Pacific, leading to marketshare gains in the US and the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) regions.
HP remained at number two, but saw shipments decline 10.4% from a year ago. Slowing business demand and inventory control of entry notebooks contributed to the dip. HP also saw its US volume contract by nearly 7%.
Dell came in at number three, shipping more than 9.5 million units and registering a year-on-year decline of 8.7%. Stronger performance in the Asia-Pacific region and EMEA were offset by slower growth in the US.
Apple ranked at number four globally. Analysts reckon the company may be benefiting from some of the uncertainty around the launch of Windows 10 along with upgrades to products like the 12-inch MacBook.
Acer and ASUS are both tied statistically at the fifth spot. Acer ended the second quarter of 2014 with a volume of 4.33 million, a significant decline from the prior quarter and year-ago volumes. ASUS has also been affected by currency factors and inventory management, but strong growth in the US boosted overall results.
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