PC demand continues to be in the declining mode with shipments coming down in the third quarter to the lowest level since 2008. Global demand of Personal computers has declined due to low demands from students returning to school, according to market researcher Gartner.
Consumers demand usually rise in the third quarter as students who return back to school purchase Personal computers, says a report from Bloomberg.
PC sales declining consistently
Globally, sales of PC units came down 8.6 percent to 80.3 million, marking the decline for the sixth straight quarter, according to Gartner. Low volumes elsewhere were counterbalanced to extent by the shipment surge of 3 percent in the United States, as per the statement of Gartner.
The research firm noted that Lenovo retained its Numero Uno position in the global market with 17.6 percent market share, Hewlett Packard Co was at the second spot. Hewlett Packard, the top selling PC brand in the United States, gained 1.5 percent in unit sales, giving it a 17.1 percent share and is capable of alluring the customers back when it rolls out new products. Dell took the third position with 11.6 percent share and 1 percent increase in the third quarter shipments. Taiwan’s Acer and Asustek Computer both posted shipment declines of more than 20 percent.
“Consumers’ shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets,” Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner, said. Analyst noted that the developing markets saw an increase in the demand of inexpensive Android tablet from the first time consumers while, in the developed markets, it was taken as the supplementary market.
Windows 8, corporate purchases some hope for PC market
Another research firm IDC said in its report that global PC market declined by 7.6 percent to 81.6 million units as against earlier estimates of 9.5 percent decline. Further, the research firm noted that Windows 8 popularity and corporate purchases slowed the percentage to decline further. Loren Loverde, an analyst IDC, said that actual numbers were very close to forecasted numbers and shrinking PC market continues to be an issue. Analyst also noted that third quarter results depict that percentage can decline for the worldwide shipments in 2014. IDC expects a 9.7 percent decline in the unit sales this year.
