Global PC shipments down 9.6%

The Dollar Business Bureau

For the sixth consecutive quarter, the PC shipments declined worldwide, and this time there was a decrease of 9.6 per cent at 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016, according to a report released by research firm Gartner. This is the first time since 2007 that shipment volume fell below 65 million units, it said.

"The deterioration of local currencies against the US dollar continued to play a major role in PC shipment declines. Our early results also show there was an inventory build-up from holiday sales in the fourth quarter of 2015," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

"All major regions showed year-on-year shipment declines, with Latin America showing the steepest drop, where PC shipments declined 32.4 per cent. The Latin American PC market was intensely impacted by Brazil, where the problematic economy and political instability adversely affected the market,” Kitagawa said.

She further said, "The ongoing decline in US shipments showed that the installed base is still shrinking, a factor that played across developed economies. Low oil prices drove economic contraction in Latin America and Russia, changing them from drivers of growth to market laggards."

Especially in emerging markets, PCs are not being adopted in new households as smartphones are more preferred in these markets. In the business segment, Gartner analysts said the Windows 10 refresh is expected to start toward the end of 2016. Lenovo tops in global PC shipments in the first quarter of 2016 though there was a decline of 7.2 per cent in shipments.

"Vendors that had a strong consumer focus struggled to increase sell in shipments," Kitagawa said. "There was no particular motivation for US consumers to purchase PCs in the first quarter of 2016. There have been increased sales of two-in-one PCs, but not enough to offset the decline in desktop and traditional notebook sales."

The PC shipments in Asia have declined 5.1 per cent at 23.3 million units, the shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) have come down to 10 per cent year-on-year at 19.5 million units in the first quarter of 2016 when compared to the same quarter previous year. In the business segment, large organisations are testing and evaluating Windows 10, and major deployment will start at the end of 2016 as per the report.