Preliminary results by Gartner, an information technology and advisory company, are showing that worldwide PC shipments are down 9.5% for the second quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter last year. While the numbers do seem to indicate that PCs are losing popularity amongst other technology like tablets and mobile devices, Gartner is quick to point out that this drop is temporary and expect to see a return to slow and steady growth in 2016.
“The price hike of PCs became more apparent in some regions due to a sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar against local currencies,” Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “The price hike could hinder PC demand in these regions. Secondly, the worldwide PC market experienced unusually positive desk-based growth last year due to the end of Windows XP support. After the XP impact was phased out, there have not been any major growth drivers to stimulate a PC refresh. Lastly, the Windows 10 launch scheduled for 3Q15 has created self-regulated inventory control. PC vendors and the channels tried clearing inventory as much as possible before the Windows 10 launch.”
The preliminary analysis includes includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premium devices and are based on shipments selling into channels. All the major manufacturers, including Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, and Acer, suffered a range of growth loss between 4.9%-20.2%. Lenovo still holds just under 20% worldwide market share however, and saw 9.7% growth in U.S. 2Q15 shipments as it attempts to catch up to HP and Dell in that region.
What do you think about the decline in PC shipments? A sign that tablets and mobile solutions are becoming more popular or a temporary drop as Gartner suggests? Let us know in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3090817″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Gartner[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
