PC sales to decline 4.9 per cent in 2015: IDC

Global personal computer sales are projected a larger decline of 4.9 per cent in 2015 to 293.1 million, than projected earlier, says technology research giant IDC.

It had earlier forecast a 3.3-per cent drop.

PC sales were down 2.2 per cent in 2014. According to IDC it cut its forecast as the stronger US dollar was making computers more expensive in other countries and it expected Microsoft Corp to cut subsidies for some products.

Shipments were also be pushed back in 2015 as consumers waited for new products like Microsoft's new Windows 10 operating system, expected later this year.

According to IDC, it cut its projections as the stronger US dollar was making computers more expensive in other countries.

PC sales had been falling over the last two years with more consumers turning to mobile devices. However, there had been recent signs the worst of the decline was over and in the long term, IDC expected declines to level out, with PC shipments of 291.4 million in 2019.

According to IDC, desktop shipments would drop 6.2 per cent and laptop shipments would decline 3.9 per cent this year. Earlier yesterday,  Intel lowered its first-quarter revenue forecast, partly due to demand for business desktop PCs getting weaker than it expected.

IDC said about 293 million PCs would be expected to be shipped this year. The PC market declined in value by 0.8 per cent to $201 billion in 2014, and was expected to further drop another 6.9 per cent in 2015, IDC said.

Smaller declines in subsequent years would see the total market at $175 billion by 2019.

Microsoft would also be rolling back subsidies it was offering manufacturers of Windows computers with its Bing as the default search engine.

Consumer interest was, however, expected later in the year as products rolled out based on Microsoft's new Windows 10 operating system and Intel's Skylake chip architecture.

According to Intel the weakening in the PC market could be attributed to a slower than expected purchase of newer PCs by small and medium businesses holding on to computers running the earlier Windows XP operating system from Microsoft. Also the macroeconomic and currency conditions in Europe were challenging.

The PC business was earlier expected to decline sharply in the face of competition from tablets, but it turned out that these devices were also facing a rough patch, partly due to larger-screen phones, popularly known as phablets. ''Fortunately for PC makers, tablet growth has slowed,'' said Jay Chou, an analyst at IDC in a statement.