Decline in PC Shipments in 2016 To Be Bigger Than Expected, Says IDC

IDC scaled back its 2016 PC shipment forecast by a “couple percent,” now projecting a 5.4 percent drop for the year to 261 million worldwide. Expectations for Q4 2015 and early 2016 were “already fairly low” due to weak economic conditions and competition from smartphones, detachable tablets and phablets, said IDC. But falling commodity prices and foreign currencies have squeezed demand further, while the ability to upgrade older PCs to Windows 10 has allowed users to delay upgrades, it said. Last year was the first since 2008 when PC shipments fell below 300 million units (see 1601130009). Despite the negative trend, "PCs remain an indispensable part of the tech landscape," said IDC analyst Loren Loverde. Ultraslim and convertible notebooks are expected to grow “substantially” by 2020, with convertibles more than doubling and ultraslim PCs growing by more than 70 percent, while all-in-one desktop volume will increase by more than a third over the same period, IDC said. Notebooks smaller than 14 inches and lower priced PCs will continue to grow, it said.