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PC shipments slide for fifth consecutive quarter

Gartner stats for Q2 indicate continued market decline

Big losses see Amazons shares hit 12-month low
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Worldwide PC volumes for Q2 2013 shrank 10.9 per cent to 76m units compared to the prior-year quarter, latest Gartner figures reveal.

According to the analyst, the installed base is restructuring to accommodate the move to tablets as the primary data consumption device.

"This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of declining shipments, which is the longest duration of decline in the PC market's history," it said in its announcement.

"All regions showed a decline compared to a year ago."

Even Asia-Pacific exhibited five consecutive quarterly declines – while the EMEA market also had two consecutive quarters of double-digit decline.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, wrote: "We are seeing the PC market reduction directly tied to the shrinking installed base of PCs, as inexpensive tablets displace the low-end machines used primarily for consumption in mature and developed markets.

"This is also accounting for the collapse of the mini notebook market."

HP and Lenovo are still battling it out for top spot and this quarter saw Lenovo retake the lead.

Lenovo grew well in the Americas and EMEA, while showing a major decline in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in China.

HP is market leader in the US, EMEA and Latin America. Dell's shipments declined compared to a year ago, but less than in the past few quarters.

Both Acer and Asus showed steep declines, according to Gartner.

Kitagawa added that Windows 8 is not to blame for the PC market's decline, although some have thought so.

"We believe this is unfounded as it does not explain the sustained decline in PC shipments, nor does it explain Apple's market performance," she wrote.

EMEA sales weakened by 16.8 per cent compared to the year-ago quarter, partly due to the shift towards tablets, and partly due to inventory reductions in the channel as the market moved towards Haswell-based machines.

In western Europe, PC replacement rates continued to be extremely low, as was consumer demand, according to Gartner.

Victor Basta, managing director of M&A advisory firm Magister Advisors, said: "The PC era was over some time ago. We are just seeing it become starkly evident now."

Magister Advisers' Victor BastaBasta (pictured, right) said Magister tracks tech investment activity closely and more money has been going into internet opportunities than software and hardware combined in the last 18 months, in anticipation of this trend.

"If you're a store chain called PC World you might want to rethink your brand quickly if you want to be associated with the future of technology rather than antiquity," said Basta.

"These numbers are also a huge cloud over the recent Dell deal, which now looks like a mega deal headed for zero returns."

 

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