Global PC Market Declines As U.S.

Sales Lag
Laposky, John . TWICE : This Week in Consumer Electronics; New York  Vol. 32, Iss. 17,  (Oct 23, 2017):
18.

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ABSTRACT (ENGLISH)
"While there were signs of stabilization in the PC industry in key regions, including EMEA, Japan and Latin America,
the relatively stable results were offset by the U.S. market, which saw a 10 percent year-over-year decline in part
because of a very weak back-to-school sales season," Kitagawa said. According to IDC, HP retained the top spot
and further lengthened its lead with a nearly 22.8 percent share of the global market, helped in part by major wins
in Asia/Pacific. Business PC demand is stable in the U.S., but demand could slow down among [small- and
medium-size businesses] due to PC price increases due to component shortages.

FULL TEXT
Headnote
IDC, Gartner see a continued slowdown going forward
Worldwide shipments of traditional PCs in the third quarter remained flat or were slightly down, according to the
two leading data-tracking companies.
IDC's research showed shipments of desktop, notebook and workstation computers totaled 67.2 million units in
the third quarter of 2017, which translates into a slight year-over-year decline of 0.5 percent, though the research
firm said the results were better than projections of a 1.4 percent decline, and further demonstrate the trend of
market stabilization in recent quarters. Improvement in emerging markets as well as back-to-school promotions
helped boost results.
Gartner had worldwide PC shipments at 67 million units in the quarter, which compared with earlier Gartner
research, marked a 3.6 percent decline from the same period in 2016. Gartner said this was the 12th consecutive
quarter of declining PC shipments.
IDC said component shortages in recent quarters have continued to improve and thus did not factor as a
significant hindrance to production volumes. Nonetheless, higher component prices and inventory in some
markets meant limited shipments and validated IDC assumptions about a muted third quarter. Not surprisingly,
competitive pressures further cemented the dominance of the top five PC companies, which accounted for nearly
75 percent of the total traditional PC market.
Gartner disagreed with that finding. "There are ongoing component shortages, with DRAM shortages getting
particularly worse during the third quarter of the year compared with the first half of 2017. The component price
hike impacted the consumer PC market as most vendors generally pass the price hike on to consumers, rather
than absorbing the cost themselves," said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "We expect the DRAM
shortage to continue to the end of 2018, but it will not be reflected in the final PC prices immediately."
Gartner called out the relative weakness of the U.S. market for the worldwide decline. "While there were signs of
stabilization in the PC industry in key regions, including EMEA, Japan and Latin America, the relatively stable
results were offset by the U.S. market, which saw a 10 percent year-over-year decline in part because of a very
weak back-to-school sales season," Kitagawa said. "Business PC demand, led by Windows 10 upgrades, continued
to drive PC shipments across all regions, but its refresh schedule varies by region. The countries with stable
economies, such as the U.S., have created a positive sentiment among businesses, especially for small and
midsized businesses, which are more vulnerable to external events, such as economic or political."

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According to IDC, HP retained the top spot and further lengthened its lead with a nearly 22.8 percent share of the
global market, helped in part by major wins in Asia/Pacific. HP was the only top vendor to manage a notable
shipment increase with growth of 6 percent on the year. Lenovo was second with 21.6 percent.
Gartner called Q3 a "virtual tie" for the top spot, with HP at 21.8 percent and Lenovo at 21.4 percent. However,
Gartner said, HP is in an upward trend, as it has experienced five consecutive quarters of global PC growth, while
Lenovo is in a downward trend with declining shipments in eight of the last 10 quarters.
"The traditional [global] PC market performed much as expected in the third quarter," said Loren Loverde, program
VP at IDC. "Emerging markets rebounded slightly more than anticipated, but overall results reflect the stabilization
we expected following component and inventory adjustments. The outlook for the fourth quarter remains cautious,
likely with a small decline in volume for the quarter and the year. The gains in emerging regions and potential for
more commercial replacements represent some upside potential, although we continue to expect incremental
declines in total shipments for the next few years."
As for the U.S. market, Gartner's Kitagawa said, "Weak back-to-school sales were further evidence that traditional
consumer PC demand drivers for PCs are no longer effective. Business PC demand is stable in the U.S., but
demand could slow down among [small- and medium-size businesses] due to PC price increases due to
component shortages."
Sidebar
"Weak back-to-school sales were further evidence that traditional consumer PC demand drivers for PCs are no
longer effective."

DETAILS

Subject: Emerging markets; Market strategy; Inventory; Shortages

Location: United States--US Latin America Japan

Ethnicity: Also

Publication title: TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics; New York

Volume: 32

Issue: 17

Pages: 18

Publication year: 2017

Publication date: Oct 23, 2017

Section: BY THE NUMBERS

Publisher: Future Publishing Ltd

Place of publication: New York

Country of publication: United Kingdom, New York

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 Publication subject: Engineering--Electrical Engineering, Computers--Software

ISSN: 08927278

Source type: Trade Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

ProQuest document ID: 1963389368

Document URL: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1963389368?accountid=12763

Copyright: Copyright New Bay Media LLC Oct 23, 2017

Last updated: 2017-11-14

Database: SciTech Premium Collection,ProQuest Central

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