PC market grew for first time in five years

12 Apr 2017

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The PC market is showing signs of a revival after stagnating for years. IDC said yesterday that global shipments of PCs were up for the first time on an annualised basis since the first quarter of 2012. It also noted that PC shipments rose 0.6 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2017.

The research firm admitted that the increase was "arguably flat" but it actually came as a bit of a surprise. This was contrary to earlier reports that said the PC market would continue to decline.

"Tight supplies of key components such as NAND and DRAM are affecting inventory dynamics and led a number of vendors to boost shipments to lock in supply ahead of further cost increases," IDC explained. "In addition, the market continued along a path of stabilization that began in the latter half of last year, especially as more commercial projects moved out of pilot mode and began shipments in earnest."

HP was the top seller in the quarter, grabbing the highest market share for the first time since Q1 2013 with 13.1 million shipments.

HP, Lenovo, Dell, Apple and Acer emerged as the top five vendors by shipments during the quarter, with Dell notching 6.2 per cent growth and Apple seeing 4.1 per cent growth during the quarter.

Meanwhile, according to the latest statistics from Gartner, Apple took the fifth place with 4.2 million units shipped, accounting for 6.8 per cent of the market. The figure increased 4.5 per cent from the same time last year.

Chinese PC maker Lenovo increased its lead, shipping 12.4 million units, up 1.2 per cent from last year securing a 19.9 per cent share of the global market. HP with 12 million shipments, took 19.5 per cent of the market, up 6.5 per cent from last year.

According to Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa, PC vendors would need to place more emphasis on enterprise sales as consumer demand dried up. Overall PC shipments dipped 2.4 per cent year over year, which continued a negative sales trend that had been in effect for over five years.

"The top three vendors - Lenovo, HP and Dell - will battle for the large-enterprise segment," Kitagawa said, Apple Insider reported. "The market has extremely limited opportunities for vendors below the top three, with the exception of Apple, which has a solid customer base in specific verticals."

 

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