Price rises hit PC shipments
Mobile phone sales will prop up wider device market in 2018, according to Gartner
Higher component costs will fuel a drop in PC sales in 2018, according to Gartner.
Although overall device shipments, including mobile phones, will rise by 0.9 per cent this year, 1.2 per cent fewer PCs and tablets will be sold than in 2017, the market watcher said.
PC vendors have increased prices throughout 2018, partly due to the ongoing shortage of memory, the analyst said.
Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, explained that other factors are involved in the rising price of PCs and tablets.
"Larger screens and more graphic boards also mean rising costs, adding to the bill of hardware materials for businesses and household buyers," he said.
Gartner also reports that business demand is migrating to high-end PCs, such as Microsoft's Surface Pro and Apple's MacBook Air, where "value is seen as higher". The analyst estimates shipments of such devices will increase by 12 per cent in 2018.
The total PC market is expected to remain flat until 2020, according to Gartner, as the number of high-end PCs being sold counters the decline in traditional desktop and notebook PCs.
China's influence on the global device market plays a significant part in flagging traditional PC sales, said Gartner.
Sales in China have declined 1.7 per cent in 2018 to 38.5 million shipments, accounting for 21 per cent of global traditional PC shipments.
"The downward trend that China is experiencing is undoubtedly affecting the worldwide device market," said Atwal.
"China is an interesting country to watch this year. The continued rollout of a Chinese version of Windows 10 in the second half of 2018 as well as Apple iPhone's replacement cycle expected through 2019 will generate demand."
The analyst also forecasts that the end of support for Windows 7 in 2020 will be the "next major shift" in the PC market.
"It is becoming paramount for businesses to migrate to Windows 10 as soon as possible, and certainly by the end of 2019," said Atwal.