The Chinese firm shipped 13.46 million PCs in Q2, down 6.8% when compared to 14.4 units shipped in the year-ago quarter.
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IDC, the worldwide Data Corporation, estimates global PC sales tumbled to 66.1 million units in the second quarter of 2015, falling at a sharper Y/Y clip than the first quarter’s 6.7% and about 1% faster than expected. ‘We’re expecting the Windows 10 launch to go relatively well, though many users will opt for a free OS upgrade rather than buying a new PC, ‘ Loverde explained.
Gartner headlined its findings by stating that the PC industry declined by 9.5 per cent year-on-year. Others are holding off because the USA dollars surge has enfeebled local currencies and pushed up PC prices. Analysts emphasized that these inhibitors are temporary events, and they are not changing the PC market’s structure.
IDC said the slow PC shipments were largely anticipated as a result of stronger year-ago shipments relating to end of support for windows XP as well as channels reducing inventory ahead of the release of Windows 10.
But there haven’t been any growth drivers since then to incite a refresh or upgrade cycle.
Colleague Rajani Singh, senior PC research analyst, said 2015 would experience a “healthy second half” as purchases pick up following Windows 10’s launch. EMEA, Latin America and Japan were tough regions for Lenovo, as the company experienced double-digit shipment declines.
Loren Loverde, VP of worldwide PC trackers and forecasting at IDC, added: “We continue to expect low to mid-single digit declines in volume during the second half of the year with volume stabilizing in future years”. HP showed a steep decline in EMEA, which was potentially due to the currency impact. Based on preliminary results, the desk-based PC shipment decline was the steepest since 2009 when the market was hit by the economic crisis.
The slump last quarter took a toll on some PC-dependent companies, with microprocessor provider Advanced Micro Devices Inc. lowering its quarterly sales forecast on Monday, and memory-chip maker Micron Technologies Inc. doing the same last month.
“Despite inventory controls for the Windows 10 launch, mobile PC shipments grew in the quarter, which resulted in five consecutive quarters of mobile PC growth in the U.S”. Analysts said this could be partly attributed to Dell’s lower presence in the consumer market, which created less impact to Dell from the Windows 10 prelaunch inventory control.
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HP continued to lead at home despite a 10.1 percent decline year-over-year, although analysts pointed out Dell is narrowing the gap. The company also suffered a shipment decline after five consecutive quarters of PC shipment growth with shipments declining 9.5% to 11.92 million units in Q2. Asia/Pacific PC shipments reached 24.2 million units in the second quarter of 2015, a 2.9 percent decline from the same period past year.
