According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, worldwide PC shipments totaled 62.4 million units in the second quarter of 2016 (2Q16), a year-on-year decline of 4.5%, beating the forecast of -7.4% by roughly 3%. The research firm said that currency fluctuations and a stronger dollar have effectively raised PC prices in EMEA and Latin America.
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In the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region results are expected to be in line with forecast. While the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union did not have a major impact in the worldwide PC results in the second quarter of 2016, Gartner analysts said Brexit could potentially create uncertainty, not only in currency, but also the entire economy beyond Europe.
“The PC market continues to struggle as we wait for replacements to accelerate, along with some return of spending from phones, tablets, and other IT. Our long-term outlook remains cautions”.
And, in Asia/Pacific, Lenovo’s shipments declined, but the decline was less than the overall average in the region.
As for worldwide PC shipments, they’ve experienced their seventh straight decline clocking in at minus 5.2% from Q2 2015.
Gartner figures show that, while recording a 2.2 per cent decline year-on-year (its fifth consecutive quarter of global shipment declines), Lenovo maintained its number one position.
HP Inc now has 19.1 per cent market share globally, compared with Lenovo’s 20.5 per cent, after growing shipments 1.8 per cent in Q2, including a 4.6 per cent rise in EMEA, where it is market leader. Weakness in consumer demand continued in most countries across the region: Ramadhan observance affected consumer spending, while high inventory inhibited new shipments. HP Inc did well in EMEA to maintain the top position, but it was not able to surpass Dell in the US.
Gartner also reports that Asus, Apple and Acer are battling it out for the fourth position in worldwide PC shipments for the second quarter of 2016, as preliminary results get finalised. The U.S. PC market had experienced five consecutive quarters of shipment declines. “There is an opportunity for a Windows 10 refresh among businesses, which we expect to see more toward the end of 2016 to the beginning of 2017”, Mikako said. For Apple, shipments were down 8.3 percent year-over-year, while market share also fell from 7.4 percent to 7.1 percent.
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PC makers shipped 64.3 million machines in the period, down from 67.9 million a year earlier, the market researcher said Monday (July 11) in a statement. This is the first recent quarter of comparison that was not impacted by Bing promotions (that inflated shipments through the first quarter of 2015). Although their figures in relation to the uptick does not match and there is no definite reason why there was an increase in PC shipments but the good news is that the numbers moved up.
