Following a disappointing 2012 holiday season that saw PC sales decline despite the launch of Windows 8, industry analysts began predicting further declines for PC shipments throughout 2013. Last week, a Digitimes report raised hopes, stating that PC shipments could pick up in the third quarter 2013 due to a combination of new Intel Haswell processors and the release of Windows 8.1.
Now, yet another analyst firm is cautioning investors against optimism in the PC market. IDC has released its monthly PC Tracker numbers, showing that PC shipments have not grown significantly in Europe and emerging markets throughout the first half of 2013. Though the firm predicts declines to slow throughout the rest of the year, it predicts an overall 7.8% decline in the PC shipments for the year.
“The expectation for the second quarter was not all that high, showing only minor improvement from the first quarter,” said Loren Loverde, VP of Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC. “But the May results reflect deteriorating conditions rather than improvement and the market will probably fall short of projections. We still expect an improvement in the second half of the year as more new products are launched and we get into the back-to-school and holiday seasons. But the market will likely remain cautious about the second half of 2013.”