Both Gartner and IDC estimate that computer sales dropped several points year-over-year (between 7.7 and 10.8 percent) in the third quarter, right when the new Windows arrived.
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However, though demand has dropped, the PC is not dead, and this cooling of the market has forced companies from Microsoft and HP to Dell and Lenovo to get creative and exciting, and, as the first Windows 10 PCs hit the shelves, a turnaround is expected.
In a statement, IDC research manager Jay Chou said that the PC market is continuously contracting as expected but they are optimistic about future shipments.
PC-related names are mixed bag in reaction: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is up 9 cents at $29.27, while Microsoft (MSFT) is down 14 cents at $47.31, and Intel (INTC) is down 37 cents, or 1%, at $32.15.
Shipments totalled 73.7 million units. IDC, for example, now projects a 9% reduction in 2015, although that number did not reflect the third quarter’s dismal results, hinting at an eventual larger-than-expected contraction for the year. However, our Office-based dilution assumptions could prove aggressive given Office 365’s success with Office revenues somewhat decoupling from both commercial and consumer PC shipments. HP also maintained the leadership position in the USA, with a 28.7% share, up +110 bps, from 27.6% share in the same period a year ago. Chou said that the lackluster volume of PC shipments has come in line with expectations that the third quarter would face challenging financial conditions and would be a changeover period. Analysts cite the transition to Microsoft Windows 10 OS for the slump, and customers are waiting for the sixth generation of Intel Core’s family that will boost performance and reduce energy consumption.
If IDC’s forecast proves accurate, it would be the fourth-worst quarter for PC makers since the research company and its analysts began tracking shipments in 1996.
Gartner (Stamford, Conn.) and IDC (Framingham, Mass.) laid the blame lackluster PC shipments largely on currency exchange rates, with the appreciation of the US dollar leading to an increase in global PC prices of around 10% through the course of the year.
According to IDC, companies are trying hard to limit price swings as the rise in U.S dollar made PCs expensive in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Japan and Latin America. Even Acer and ASUS saw sales plunge by over 10 percent.
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IDC says that devaluation of currency is a major reason for the PC shipments not being high as they were earlier but that should not be a reason enough yet to panic.
