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Tag: PC Shipments

  • Windows XP Death Did Fuel Some PC Spending

    Windows XP is now officially dead. Earlier this week Microsoft officially ended support for the OS, which had become one of the most popular in history.

    PC manufacturers had hoped that the death of XP would fuel sales of new computers as consumers and businesses looked to upgrade their machines to run Windows 7 or Windows 8. Now the numbers are in and it’s clear that Windows XP has contributed to PC sales, if only a bit.

    Market research firm IDC today released its first-quarter 2014 PC shipment estimates. The firm estimates that 73.4 million PCs were shipped this year through march. This represents a 4.4% decline in PC sales from the first quarter of 2013.

    Despite the continuing decline of the PC market, IDC points out that this 4.4% decline is less than the expected decline of 5.3%. The firm attributes this better-than-expected result to the death of XP. Shipment numbers in mature markets, and in Japan in particular, were bettered by Windows XP infrastructure upgrades. Even so, the boost from Windows XP upgrades will likely be short-term and is not enough to reverse the declining growth of the traditional PC industry.

    “PC shipment growth in the United States remained slightly faster than most other regions in the first quarter, said Rajani Singh, senior research analyst for Personal Computing at IDC. “However, the passing boost from XP replacements, constrained consumer demand, and no clear driver of a market rebound are expected to keep growth below zero going forward. A rebound in consumer or a continuation of accelerated commercial upgrades could boost growth slightly, but low demand for upgrades in general combined with competition from tablets and 2-in-1 systems limit the growth potential.”

    Despite the continued decline of the overall PC market, top brands did see their first quarter shipments rise in 2014. Lenovo once again saw the largest growth in the industry with a 10.5% year-over-year shipment increase to nearly 13 million shipped PCs during the first quarter. HP is now following with 12.6 million units shipped during the first quarter, a 4.7% increase over 2013 shipments.

    Image via Lenovo

  • 2.1 Million Chromebooks Shipped Last Year

    2.1 Million Chromebooks Shipped Last Year

    The PC market is still in decline and shipments of traditional desktop and notebook PCs took a nosedive during 2013. PC manufacturers are introducing new features such as ultra HD displays and touchscreens in an effort to compete with the rapidly-rising tablet market, Though the ability of these features to turn around the PC market is in doubt, not all PC devices are seeing the same declining sales.

    Market research firm ABI Research this week released a new report showing that 2.1 million Chromebooks were shipped during 2013. Chromebooks are low-priced notebooks designed around Google’s Chrome operating system.

    The firm’s numbers show that almost 89% of last year’s Chromebook shipments were to North America – a mature market that is already showing signs of saturation in the mobile device market. ABI points to the low average sale price of Chrombooks as the competitive force that is propelling the segment well past higher-priced traditional notebooks and PCs.

    “ABI Research tracked Chromebooks across six regions and found the average selling price (ASP) to be US$338,” said Stephanie Van Vactor, research analyst at ABI. “This truly budget-driven device is a disruptive force to the portable PC market.”

    Of course, Chromebooks are one of the few bright spots in the overall declining PC market. The new report shows that only the “ultraportable” notebook segment also managed growth in 2013, though only slight growth. Even then, the average sale price of ultraportable PCs was seen declining by a significant 7.4% last year, cutting manufacturer’s margins even thinner.

    Given the trends seen in this data, it isn’t hard to predict where the consumer market for PCs will be headed in the coming years. ABI predicts that lower prices, greater connectivity, and a wider reliance on cloud services – all features integral to Chromebooks – will drive the PC market in the future. The report also mentions that the coming death of the popular Windows XP operating system could also have a large effect on the PC market in the coming year.

    Image via Acer

  • Tech Shipments Growing, Despite Languishing PC Market

    With many parts of the worldwide economy still struggling to recover from the recent economic recession, the tech industry still appears resilient enough to weather just about any market fluctuations. Market research firm Gartner today released a new report showing that shipments of tech products are still continuing to rise.

    The report predicts that shipments of PCs (including “ultramobile” PCs), tablets, and mobile phones are set to hit a combined 2.5 billion units during 2014. This represents a nearly 6.9% increase over shipments seen in 2013.

    This rise in shipments will come despite the continued decline in traditional PC sales. Gartner estimates that only 276.7 million desktop and notebook PCs will ship during 2014, a 6.5% decrease over 2013 shipment numbers. This trend is predicted to continue into 2015, when the firm estimates that only 263 million desktops and notebooks will be shipped.

    “The traditional PC category continues to decrease, with only about two-thirds of notebook and desktop replacements remaining within this category,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “The majority of the remaining one-third will move to ultramobiles, while others will not be replaced at all.”

    Making up for the traditional PC slowdown is the tablet market, which is predicted to continue its impressive growth will into next year. Tablet shipments are predicted to rise to 270.7 million units during 2014 (a 38.5% rise over 2013 shipments) and are predicted to top traditional PC shipments in 2015 with 349.1 million units shipped.

    Mobile phone shipments are also expected to continue rise in the coming years. Gartner estimates that nearly 1.9 billion mobile phones will ship during 2014, a 4.9% increase over 2013 shipments.

    As the tablet and smartphone segments begin to saturate mature markets, marketing focus will shift toward emerging markets such as China. The coming glut of smartphones and tablets will also breed extensive competition between manufacturers, cutting margins to razor-thin levels and pushing out weaker competitors.

    Meanwhile, traditional PC manufacturers are still desperately trying to find a way to make notebooks and desktops more relevant to the consumer market. Features such as Ultra HD displays and touch displays will soon become standard for notebooks, though it is still unclear whether such features will lure consumers back from more mobile tablets.

    “Tablet substitution of notebooks will start to dissipate from this year onwards as consumers and businesses align the right device with the right usage pattern,” said Atwal. “As they do this, we will see where dedicated devices (such as tablets), or hybrid devices (detachable or convertible devices), fit in the overall portfolio of devices.”

    Image via Samsung

  • PC Shipments Dropped Nearly 10% in 2013

    PC Shipments Dropped Nearly 10% in 2013

    The PC market is still hanging around and certainly will never fade away, but sales of traditional PCs are dropping to distressingly low levels for the industry. Market research firm IDC today released a new report showing that PC shipments worldwide (desktops and portables together) fell by 9.8% during the fiscal year 2013, down to just over 315 million units shipped.

    Though the drop is alarming, the fourth quarter 2013 numbers were, according to the report, higher than expected. IDC pins this on businesses and consumers upgrading from the doomed XP operating system – a market force that will not be a factor for much longer. Other features that manufacturers had hoped would spur PC sales (such as touchscreens) have not proved popular enough to turn around the PC market and the failure of the Windows 8 OS is putting even further pressure on the market.

    Even so-called emerging regions saw negative growth for 2013, with consumers turning towards inexpensive tablets and smartphones for their computing needs. IDC is predicting that PC shipments will continue to decline by 6.1% this year before nearly bottoming out with -0.8% growth in 2015.

    “Emerging markets used to be a core driver of the PC market, as rising penetration among large populations boosted overall growth,” said Loren Loverde, VP of Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC. “At the moment, however, we’re seeing emerging regions more affected by a weak economic environment as well as significant shifts in technology buying priorities. We do expect these regions to recover in the medium term and perform better than mature regions, but growth is expected to stabilize near zero percent, rather than driving increasing volumes as we saw in the past.”

    Image courtesy Lenovo

  • Even the Mobile PC Market is Languishing

    It’s well-known that the overall PC market is in a downward spiral. Quarter after quarter shipments of PCs have been falling as consumer turn toward lower-priced tablets for their basic computing needs. Even notebook PCs have seen sales drop over the past two years.

    Market research firm IHS today issued a report showing that mobile PCs – that is to say, notebooks and PC tablets – are still seeing fewer year-over-year shipments. The report estimates that 52.6 million mobile PCs shipped during the fourth quarter of 2013, a 5% drop in shipments from the fourth quarter of 2012.

    There was some hope from investors that PC sales during the holiday quarter might pick up, with new technology debuting and businesses being forced to upgrade their computing infrastructure from Windows XP. Shipments during the fourth quarter did represent a 9.4% increase over third quarter shipments, marking the second quarter in a row to see a quarterly rise in shipments. According to IHS, however, this wasn’t enough for investors, who have to consider the fourth quarter the sixth straight quarter to see year-over-year shipment declines.

    “Things were looking positive for the fourth quarter of 2013 after the third had come in on target,” said Craig Stice, director for compute, servers, and storage at IHS. “But with the consumer PC market struggling, PC vendors proceeded to maintain a conservative buying plan for the holiday season with attempts to keep inventory levels lean. As a result, entry-level PCs did not make it into high volume for the holidays, and overall shipments underperformed the initial heady outlook.”

    Image via Samsung

  • PC Market in Europe Declined During the Holidays

    It is quickly becoming clear that the PC market may never recover from the growth of tablet computing. For many consecutive quarters now shipments of traditional desktop and notebook PCs have been declining throughout the world. Today market research firm Gartner released yet more data showing just how fast the PC market is falling.

    The report shows that just 14.7 million PCs were shipped in Western Europe during the fourth quarter for 2013. This represents a 4.4% year-over-year decline in PC shipments in the region. While desktop PC shipments alone declined 0.3% from 2012, notebook PCs really took a hit with an overall 6.5% drop in shipments throughout Western Europe.

    Gartner does see a slight upside for the market in the coming months, though. The firm believes that slowing shipment declines may indicate that much of the impact of the tablet market has already passed. In addition, the coming retirement of Windows XP could help sell more PCs for enterprise as businesses look to upgrade.

    Shipments for traditional PCs (desktops and mobile PCs) in 2013 decreased 14 percent, but the rate of unit decline is moderate across geographies – which could indicate that the impact of tablets cannibalizing PC sales in mature markets is fading,” said Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Additionally, large numbers of professional PCs running on Windows XP remained in use, and the corporate market has been increasing its PC replacement – making up for a weak consumer PC market.”

    Gartner also believes that hybrid PC/tablet devices could sell well in the coming year, as could low-cost notebook devices (such as Chromebooks, which are one of the only notebook segments showing growth).

  • Ultra-Portable Notebook Segment Still Growing

    Today has been a big day for notebook industry reveals, though much of the news was particularly surprising. Samsung is said to be significantly lowering its notebook shipment estimates for 2014 and nearly abandoning the notebook sector altogether, with the exception of Chromebooks in the far future. Samsung’s outlook is a subset of the notebook industry as a whole, as analysts now believe that nearly all top notebook brands are revising down their notebook shipments for this year.

    The only portion of the notebook segment that is showing growth is portable devices that can compete with tablets mobile convenience. Market research firm ABI Research today estimated that 22.5 million “ultra-portable” notebooks shipped during 2013, putting the category at over 12% of all notebooks shipped last year. According to ABI’s numbers, this represents 100% growth for ultra-portables between 2012 and 2013.

    “Across 24 countries tracked in November 2013, we found average ultra-portable PC selling prices ranging from $940 to $1,540 with the majority of models offered above $1,200 in each country,” said Jeff Orr, senior practice director at ABI. “The ASPs suggest ultra-portables including the convertible and detachable 2-in-1 configurations remained at the high-end of the notebook PC category exiting 2013.”

    ABI points out that Windows 8 has been a major sticking point with consumers considering their technology purchases. Along with the low consumer spending power seen in the last few years, Microsoft’s failed OS could be having a negative effect on the notebook segment as a whole.

    Looking ahead to the future, ABI sees dropping tablet prices continuing to put pressure on traditional PC manufacturers. However, it also predicts that a more robust 4G infrastructure could help notebooks sell as part of mobile provider device plans.

    Image via Apple

  • Notebook Shipment Estimates Slashed For 2014

    As mobile devices (especially tablets) have become more popular in recent years, sales of low-cost mobile devices have eaten into the sales of traditional PCs. This has been especially true for notebooks, as low-cost tablets have made more expensive notebooks seem unnecessary for consumers who do not need the full functionality of a PC.

    Today market research firm NPD released a new report showing just how far the notebook segment has fallen. The report shows that nearly all top notebook brands are revising down their shipment estimates for notebooks in 2014.

    According to the report, only 134 million notebooks will be shipped in 2014 by the top nine notebook brands, including HP, Lenovo, Apple, Samsung, Sony, Asus, and Toshiba. This number is already down significantly from a previous NPD estimate of 152 million units, and the firm warns that notebook shipments are set to fall again this year.

    NPD predicts that the long-rumored Apple mega-tablet could cut further into the notebook market. In addition, the firm does not believe many small, inexpensive notebooks (the only ones that are showing growth) will be released during the first half of 2014. A separate report today has revealed that Samsung is all but abandoning the notebook market, though it will make new Chromebooks that may not be ready before 2015.

    “The declines in notebook PC shipments will have many effects on the notebook PC value chain in the coming year,” said Jeff Lin, value chain analyst at NPD. “We expect panel makers to shift Gen 5 and 6 capacity from TFT LCD for notebook panels to oxide, LTPS, and other technologies. OEM and ODM businesses will face new challenges in the allocation of product development resources for Windows OS and Android OS. Also, as Samsung reduces notebook PC shipments, HP, Lenovo, and Asus will fill the gap in the European market.”

    Image via Lenovo

  • Samsung Revises Down Notebook Shipment Estimates

    The traditional PC market is taking a big hit from the rise of tablets and other inexpensive mobile devices. Desktop computers are certainly feeling the pinch, but notebooks may be the category most at risk from ultra-portable devices. Notebook shipments worldwide have been dropping for several consecutive quarters, including this past holiday season. The only categories of notebook PC seen growing are inexpensive, ultra-portable devices such as Chromebooks.

    Notebook manufacturers have been turning to 2-in-1 solutions, touchscreens, and HD displays to try and add value to their notebook offerings, with limited success so far. Now it seems that those same manufacturers have accepted that the notebook industry may never be the same again.

    A DigiTimes report today shows that Samsung has revised its notebook forecast for 2014. The Korean manufacturer now expects to ship seven million notebooks throughout this year. This represents an over 40% drop in notebook shipments from the estimated 12 million units the company shipped during 2013. According to DigiTimes, 2013’s 12 million notebook shipments were already down significantly from the 17 million Samsung expected to ship last year.

    In addition to the relatively low shipment numbers, the report’s unnamed “Taiwan-based supply chain makers” believe that Samsung does not have plans to launch any new notebook models in the coming years, with the exception of new Chromebooks in 2015.

  • U.S. PC Market May Have “Bottomed Out,” Says Analyst

    For around two years now, the PC market has been in decline. Quarter after quarter PC manufacturers have, as a whole, reported lower shipments and decreasing sales.

    During the final holiday quarter of 2013 PC shipments once again declined as consumers moved toward inexpensive tablets and other mobile devices. Only Chromebooks seem to have caught on with consumers, leaving a bit of hope that manufacturers can find sales through inexpensive, ultramobile notebooks.

    Market research firm Gartner has also weighed in with some mixed news for the PC industry. While the firm confirms yet another quarter of decline for the industry (shipments down nearly 7% to just 82.6 million units), it is also predicting that the worst may be over for PC and notebook manufacturers.

    Gartner believes the tablet and smartphone segments in established markets such as the U.S. could soon become saturated, allowing PC manufacturers to challenge mobile devices with a combination of new features and lower prices. The downside to this is that consumers in emerging markets, where much of the consumer device market’s growth will come over the next few years, may pass over PCs entirely in favor of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

    “Although PC shipments continued to decline in the worldwide market in the fourth quarter, we increasingly believe markets, such as the U.S., have bottomed out as the adjustment to the installed base slows,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Strong growth in tablets continued to negatively impact PC growth in emerging markets. In emerging markets, the first connected device for consumers is most likely a smartphone, and their first computing device is a tablet. As a result, the adoption of PCs in emerging markets will be slower as consumers skip PCs for tablets.”

  • PC Shipments Continued to Decline Over the Holidays

    It’s a brand new year, but the story is largely the same for PC manufacturers. Much like last year, PC shipments continued to decline during the all-important holiday sales quarter.

    Market research firm IDC this week released its PC shipment estimates for the fourth quarter of 2013 and the industry has declined, as expected. The firm estimates that PC shipments during the fourth quarter were down 5.6% from the fourth quarter of 2012 – a significant contraction, though one that doesn’t quite hit IDC’s initial prediction of a 6% shipment decline.

    “The PC market again came in very close to expectations, but unfortunately failed to significantly change the trajectory of growth,” said Loren Loverde, VP of Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC. “Total shipments have now declined for seven consecutive quarters, and even the holiday shopping season was unable to inspire a turn in consumer spending. Although U.S. growth slipped a little in the fourth quarter, other regions all improved, reinforcing our view that growth rates will continue to improve gradually during 2014 despite remaining in negative territory.”

    IDC estimates that PC industry shipments as a whole declined 10% from those seen in 2012. This continuing decline demonstrates just how aggressively the tablet industry is growing and a shift in consumer needs to relatively low-priced mobile devices.

    Though HP did manage to take back its market share lead from Lenovo during the third quarter of 2013, the company saw an over 8% shipment decline during the holiday quarter. Lenovo, on the other hand, saw 9% year-over-year shipment growth and led the PC industry with over 15 million units shipped.

    “In the United States, market leader HP had a difficult quarter, contracting -12.3% year on year as the market slowed following an HP surge in the third quarter,” said Rajani Singh, senior research analyst for Personal Computing at IDC. “However, Asian majors like Lenovo and Samsung achieved strong double-digit growth, driven partly by a modest commercial uptick and partly due to retail acceptance of their emerging product categories, such as Chromebooks.

  • Device Sales Forecast to Hit 2.5 Billion This Year

    With IT spending once again on the rise, tech manufacturers are optimistic about their device sales in the coming year.

    Market research firm Gartner today estimated that shipments of devices including PCs, Tablets, and Phones will reach more than 2.47 billion by the end of 2014. This represents a 7.6% increase in device shipments from Gartner’s estimated 2.3 billion devices shipped during 2013.

    As expected, mobile phones (including smartphones) are expected to account for the majority of this year’s device shipments. Gartner estimates that over 1.9 billion mobile phones will be shipped during 2014. Phone shipment estimates are followed by tablets (263 million), PCs (278 million), and other devices (63 million that includes hybrid computers and “ultramobile” devices).

    As mobile phone shipments continue to dominate device shipments, Google’s Android OS is expected to continue its dominance of the mobile phone industry. Gartner estimates that 1.1 billion of this year’s shipped devices will have some form of Android on them, followed by Windows (360 million), and Apple’s iOS or Mac OS (a combined 344 million). Gartner believes Android’s massive market dominance will continue in the coming years, led by emerging markets where low-end smartphones are expected to lead industry growth.

    “The device market continues to evolve, with buyers deciding which combination of devices is required to meet their wants and needs,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products. Meanwhile users continue to move away from the traditional PC (notebooks and desk-based) as it becomes more of a shared content creation tool, while the greater flexibility of tablets, hybrids and lighter notebooks address users’ increasingly different demands.”

  • Notebook Shipments Dropped During The Holiday Season

    Throughout 2013 notebook manufacturers saw weakening demand for notebooks. Heading into the holiday season, however, there was still some optimism that a combination of Microsoft’s improved Windows 8.1 OS and new product features (touchscreens chief among them) would propel holiday sales of notebooks.

    Now it seems that the tablet market is still taking a big bite out of notebook sales, even during the holiday months when consumers spend the most money on tech.

    DigiTimes Research today released a new estimate for December notebook shipments. It shows that notebook shipments fell 11% month-over-month during the last month of the year. This is coming off of November, which also saw a 12% drop in shipments from October 2013.

    Though the numbers show a continually weakening notebook market, the shipment drop in December wasn’t quite as low as DigiTimes had predicted. Toshiba and Dell were found to have the best shipment growth during December, while HP notebook shipments fell 15% from those seen in November.

    According to DigiTimes, much of Dell’s shipment growth was led by notebooks sold to replace those that are still running Windows XP. Microsoft announced last year that it will stop supporting Windows XP in April of 2014. With XP still one of the most popular operating systems in the world, Microsoft and OEM manufacturers are now looking for a sales boost to PCs and notebooks from companies that have waited until the last minute to upgrade.

  • Consumer Computer Sales Increasing, Thanks to Tablets

    Throughout the past few years, the tech industry has watched as consumers bought fewer PCs each year. Shipments of PCs and notebooks have been declining for several consecutive quarters now. Consumers have not been lured in by new PC hardware features such as touchscreen notebooks and Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform has similarly failed to gain traction.

    This doom-and-gloom about he PC industry, however, is being balanced out by what consumer actually are purchasing – tablets.

    Market research firm NPD has released its latest estimates of the consumer PC market, showing that the overall segment has seen an impressive 25.4% increase over 2012 PC sales. This is a massive increase over the slight 3.1% growth NPD measured for the market segment in 2012. These numbers include desktop PCs, notebook PCs, and tablets together as a group.

    Obviously, most of the growth seen in the industry came from tablets, which are proving more popular than ever this year. NPD measured tablet sales as increasing 49% over 2012 sales, while desktop and notebooks saw only 8.5% and 28.9%, respectively. Tablet sales accounted for a full 22% of all “PC device” sales in November, showing just how popular such devices were on Black Friday.

    The growth in tablet sales was led this year by a variety of Android tablets, with this year was predicted to overtake Apple iPad shipments. Windows tablets, though, also increased their meager share of the market by a significant amount.

    Growth in the notebook segment was led by, of all things, Chromebooks. The smaller, more portable form-factor of the devices seems to appeal to consumers that are increasingly focused on mobile devices.

    “The market for personal computing devices in commercial markets continues to shift and change,” said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at NPD. “New products like Chromebooks, and reimagined items like Windows tablets, are now supplementing the revitalization that iPads started in personal computing devices. It is no accident that we are seeing the fruits of this change in the commercial markets as business and institutional buyers exploit the flexibility inherent in the new range of choices now open to them.”

  • Touchscreen Notebooks Are PC Makers’ Next Gambit

    As the tablet market has taken off in the past three years, PC makers have seen their sales decline quarter after quarter. Notebook shipments have been particularly affected, with tablets now out-shipping all mobile PCs.

    To combat slowing sales PC manufacturers are now turning toward several new technologies that they hope will entice customers. Convertible tablet/notebook devices are on the rise and are likely to become more common in the coming years. In that same vein, manufacturers are now including touchscreens on more of their non-convertible notebook devices.

    Despite the fact that consumers don’t seem too excited over touchscreens on notebooks, manufacturers are banking on the technology to raise sales. Market research firm IHS today released a report predicting that touchscreen panel shipments for notebooks during the fourth quarter of 2013 will rise over 10% quarter-over-quarter to 4.9 million units. This follows the relatively modest 2% increase in unit shipments seen in the third quarter of this year.

    “While the overall notebook PC market remains sluggish, sales of touch panels for notebook PCs are showing some signs of life in the fourth quarter,” said Stone Wu, principal analyst for display components and materials at IHS. “The resumption of double-digit growth is being driven by the full-scale launch of 10.1-inch touch-screen panels that appeal to consumers, along with the introduction of a new microprocessor solution and the arrival of exciting new form factors.”

    Though manufacturers seem excited for these new form factors, even IHS’ own data shows that consumers are still preferring tablets. The firm’s report shows that demand for touchscreen notebooks missed analyst expectations for the year 2013, a situation IHS blames directly on consumer demand for tablets. That hasn’t seemed to dissuade notebook manufacturers, however, and touchscreen component manufacturers are set to enjoy a short-term boost courtesy of what IHS is declaring the “fastest-growing segment of the PC market today.”

  • Tablet Shipments Beat Out Mobile PCs This Year

    The PC market is declining rapidly, and it is easy to see why. With no compelling reason to upgrade PC hardware, consumers are turning to mobile devices such as tablets for more of their media consumption needs.

    More proof of this was provided today courtesy market research firm Strategy Analytics, which released a new report showing that tablet shipments have now overtaken mobile PC shipments. The report shows that tablet shipments this year will reach an estimated 231 million, far eclipsing the 186 mobile PCs that are expected to have shipped in 2013.

    “The tablet has become firmly ingrained in the consumer mindset, and is now seen as one of the key go-to devices for consumers who want to undertake computing tasks on a mobile device.” said Matt Wilkins, director of tablets and wearables at Strategy Analytics. “As a result, the processors architectures, operating systems, and form factor of the tablet are playing dominant roles in the MCD (mobile computing devices) space”

    Strategy Analytics predicts that the trend toward tablets and away from notebooks will continue for at least the next four years. The report also shows that the real winner in all of this could end up being Google. The company’s Android operating system currently dominates smartphone shipments, and momentum for the platform is building for tablet devices. Strategy Analytics is predicting that over 40% of all mobile devices shipped in 2017 will be running a Google operating system.

  • PC Shipments to Continue Falling Fast

    PC Shipments to Continue Falling Fast

    With iPads firmly at the top of this year’s Black Friday most-wanted lists, PC manufacturers can only look on as the traditional segment continues to contract. PC shipments have been falling for several consecutive quarters and the declines don’t show any signs of slowing.

    Market research firm IDC today predicted that worldwide PC shipments for the year 2013 will decline over 10% from shipments seen in 2012. This is a larger contraction than was predicted even early this year, when PC manufacturers had just endured a dismal holiday 2012 quarter. Shipments for 2014 are expected to contract as well, down another 3.8%. IDC expects the PC market to level off at around 300 million shipments worldwide in the long term.

    “Perhaps the chief concern for future PC demand is a lack of reasons to replace an older system,” said Jay Chou, senior research analyst at IDC. “While IDC research finds that the PC still remains the primary computing device – for example, PCs are used more hours per day than tablets or phones – PC usage is nonetheless declining each year as more devices become available. And despite industry efforts, PC usage has not moved significantly beyond consumption and productivity tasks to differentiate PCs from other devices. As a result, PC lifespans continue to increase, thereby limiting market growth.”

    The consumer market in particular is declining, with consumers flocking to tablet devices for their media and internet consumption needs. IDC predicts a 15% drop in consumer PC shipments for 2013.

    PC shipments to enterprise customers are also declining, but not by nearly as much. IDC sees a 5% decline in enterprise PC shipments for the year 2013. The enterprise market may be buoyed slightly in the coming months by a limited need for some businesses to upgrade their PC infrastructures to newer operating systems from Windows XP, which Microsoft is ending support for in 2014.

  • Touchscreen Notebook Adoption Slowly Rising

    With the notebook market following the PC market toward lower shipments worldwide, manufacturers are now searching for new ways to entice customers back from tablets. One of the most obvious and ham-fisted ways manufacturers have done this is to ad their own touchscreen displays to notebooks. Though the usefulness of such displays could be disputed, manufacturers are still sticking with it and customers are now slowly adapting.

    Market research firm NPD DisplaySearch today revealed new results from its quarterly notebook shipment report. The firm estimates that 19.8 million touchscreen notebooks will have shipped by the end of this year. This represents only 11% of total notebook shipments, though the firm also estimates that touchscreen notebooks will reach over 40% notebook market penetration by 2017.

    Though more touchscreen notebooks are making their way to consumers, that doesn’t necessarily mean consumers are demanding the technology. Slow adoption rates could mean that future adoption will be driven mainly by manufacturers.

    “Touch penetration in notebooks was modest in the first half of the year, and we expect a slight increase to 10% in the second half,” said Richard Shim, senior analyst at DisplaySearch. “Premium pricing and a lack of compelling uses for touch screens on notebooks continue to hinder adoption. As touch interfaces become increasingly common across all mobile devices, however, it is just a matter of time before the technology also becomes more prevalent in notebooks.”

    DisplaySearch data shows that ASUS is currently leading the touchscreen notebook market by shipping over 26% of all touchscreen notebooks in the first half of 2013. A full one-fifth of ASUS notebooks shipped during that time had touchscreen capabilities. Lenovo and Acer follow behind with 14.7% and 13.5% market share, respectively, though neither of those manufacturers shipped more than 10% of their notebooks with touchscreens.

    (Image courtesy ASUS)

  • European PC Market Still in Decline

    European PC Market Still in Decline

    Though global declines in the PC market could have been worse during the third quarter, shipment numbers are still falling quickly. This is especially true in established markets, where tablets have eaten into PC sales for the past two years.

    Market research firm Gartner today released a report showing that European PC shipments during the third quarter were down to 11.9 million – a nearly 13% drop from shipments one year ago. All types of PCs, including desktops, notebooks, and enterprise saw sales decline year-over-year.

    “The PC market in Western Europe continued to shrink, declining faster than expected,” said Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner. “The transition from PCs to tablets continued to reduce PC sales. In addition, product transitions to ‘Haswell’ and ‘Bay Trail’ processors, and preparations for the launch of Windows 8.1 and associated new products, meant that vendors were careful about managing inventory and focused on clearing out stock in the distribution channel.”

    HP still leads European PC shipments with 2.6 million units shipped, which is only a small 0.2% drop in its shipments from the third quarter of 2012. Meanwhile, Lenovo is the only major manufacturer besides Dell (which saw 1.1% shipment growth) to actually improve on its shipments. The Chinese company shipped 16.3% more PCs year-over-year to Europe during the third quarter, rising to second place behind HP with nearly 1.5 million units shipped.

    Of particular note is that Acer saw a 28% shipment decline during the third quarter. This no doubt reflects one of the “complicated and harsh challenges” Acer CEO J.T. Wang cited this week as he resigned his position at the company.

  • Notebook Shipments Down Yet Another Quarter

    Though there was some hope for the segment following a small shipment rise during the back-to-school weeks, the notebook market is still contracting. Market research firm IHS today released a report showing that worldwide notebook shipments during the third quarter of 2013 are down yet again.

    The report does show that notebook shipments increased slightly (6%) from the second quarter of 2013, which IHS states is the largest quarterly growth seen since 2011. However, the estimated 47.9 million units shipped during the third quarter are still 9% lower than the number of notebooks shipped during the third quarter of 2013. According to IHS’ numbers, this is the fifth quarter in a row to see a year-over-year drop in shipment numbers.

    “Amid the onslaught of tablets, the notebook PC market now is desperately seeking any reason for optimism – and the sequential growth in the third quarter is offering a ray of hope,” said Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for compute platforms at IHS. “However, even with a respite from the sequential decline and a few other hopeful developments, the mobile PC business is still on track to decline for the full year of 2013. This means the notebook market will contract for the second consecutive year, a proposition that once would have been unthinkable for the formerly high-flying mobile PC business.”

    IHS rests the blame for notebook declines once again on tablets, which are expected to be a major seller this holiday quarter. The firm also points out, though, that PC sales could pick up during the fourth quarter due to a number of factors, including the launch of Intel’s new Haswell processors and Microsoft’s coming shutdown of Windows XP support, which could force businesses to upgrade their PC infrastructures.

    “All hopes are now pinned on the fourth quarter, which could end up as one of the most important holiday seasons yet for the PC industry,” said Stice. “With various new technologies launching, the PC trade believes it is playing its best hand in years. Many eyes will be watching to see how the rest of the year – to say nothing of 2014 – turns out.”

  • Even More Touchscreen Notebooks are Coming Next Year

    PC manufacturers, seeing the success of smartphones and tablets, have begun assuming that consumers must want to interact in the same way with their notebook screens. Microsoft even designed much of its Windows 8 user interface around the concept. Of course, the demand for touchscreen notebook PCs has been, to put it mildly, underwhelming. Some manufacturers would blame the failure of Windows 8 for slow PC sales, but almost none of them are giving up on touchscreen notebooks.

    A new DigiTimes report states that notebook manufacturers are actually looking to increase their touchscreen notebook shipments next year. This is despite the fact that touchscreen notebook shipments this year are predicted to fall short of expectations. The report’s unnamed “sources from the upstream supply chain” are cited as saying manufacturers had expected touchscreen notebooks to make up as much as 40% of their total notebook shipments this year.

    This has not been the case. DigiTimes singles out both Acer and Asus as examples of shipment shortfalls. According to the report, Acer’s touchscreen notebooks are predicted to make up just 10% of its total notebook shipments in 2013, while Asus’ proportion sits at an also-disappointing 20% of total shipments. These manufacturers are “hoping” to increase their total touchscreen notebook shipments by as much as 30% in 2014.

    DigiTimes’ sources are predicting that touchscreen notebook shipments will more than double next year, hitting 40 million units. Though manufacturers are expected to focus on Surface-like hybrid tablet/notebook devices, the falling costs of touchscreens are expected to make the feature a standard for notebooks in the near future.

    (Image courtesy ASUS)