Business demand sees PC market return to growth

Market sees growth for the first time in six years

After six consecutive years of decline, worldwide PC shipments are finally back up, according to analyst house Gartner.

Growth was modest at just 1.4 per cent during Q2 2018, year on year, totalling 62.1 million units.

The growth was led by the market's top five vendors - Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple and Acer Group. Gartner said as many as three out of four PCs were shipped by these firms in the second quarter of 2018.

Meanwhile, vendors outside the top five, saw a decline of 12.9 per cent year on year.

Principal analyst at Gartner Mikako Kitagawa, said: "PC shipment growth in the second quarter of 2018 was driven by demand in the business market, which was offset by declining shipments in the consumer segment."

Kitagawa added that long-held troubles in the PC market continue to be influenced by smartphones continuing to dominate consumer behaviour.

"In the consumer space, the fundamental market structure, due to changes on PC user behaviour, still remains, and continues to impact market growth.

"Consumers are using their smartphones for even more daily tasks, such as checking social media, calendaring, banking and shopping, which is reducing the need for a consumer PC."

Even for vendors currently enjoying PC growth, Kitagawa issued a warning: "In the business segment, PC momentum will weaken in two years when the replacement peak for Windows 10 passes.

"PC vendors should look for ways to maintain growth in the business market as the Windows 10 upgrade cycle tails off."

Just last week Gartner predicted that the PC and tablet market will decline by 1.2 per cent over the course of 2018, due to "an undersupply of the DRAM market" resulting in increasing PC prices.