Brexit contributes to decline in PC shipments

However Q2 PC shipment drop was not as steep as expected

Worldwide PC shipments declined by 4.1 per cent in Q2 this year with Brexit a contributing factor, according to IDC.

The decline was not as bad as IDC had feared, coming in three percentage points stronger than forecasted. But the market watcher claimed that economic and political volatility, exchange rates, commodity prices and Brexit all contributed to the drop in shipments.

IDC is now forecasting a decline of 7.2 per cent year on year in 2016, and a 2.1 per cent drop next year.

Loren Loverde, vice president of worldwide tracker forecasting and PC research at IDC, said: "The PC market continues on a slow path to stabilisation - quite close to prior forecasts.

"The political and economic disruptions, as well as the small shift in growth from tablets to notebooks that we saw in the second quarter, are small shifts in device replacement and competition between categories.

"We still expect shipments to stabilise over the medium term, while market leaders will benefit from further consolidation."

Despite the anticipated declines expected this year and next year, IDC forecasts PC shipments to stabilise in 2018, with small growth expected.

IDC explained that competition from other devices, such as tablets and notebooks, has been the root cause of the PC woes.

It added that interest in these products is beginning to decline, opening the way for PC replacement products, particularly in the commercial market.