Current ‘Prolonged Slump’ in PC Shipments Is ‘Unprecedented,’ Says IDC

Global PC shipments will decline 7.3 percent this year, about 2 percentage points higher than previous forecasts, IDC said in a Thursday report. The outlook continues to call for “progressively smaller” declines in 2017, followed by “stable volume” in 2018, the research firm said. Actual first-quarter declines were 12.5 percent from Q1 a year earlier, “and inhibitors such as weak currencies, depressed commodity prices, political uncertainty, and delayed projects continue to constrain shipments,” IDC said. “Although growth rates for devices such as phones and tablets continue to fall, potentially reducing the competitive pressure on PCs, we have not seen this translate into stronger PC shipments. The financial pressure on consumers across regions, and the availability of alternatives such as delaying a PC replacement by using a free Windows 10 upgrade or relying more on other devices continues to pressure consumer PC shipments.” Detachable tablets are another strong “challenge” to PC market stability because “specs and price increasingly compare favorably against notebook PCs,” IDC said. When grouping detachable tablets as a market together with PCs, unit volume is projected to decline by only a little more than 2 percent this year, “with small positive growth in later years, though still falling well short of peak shipments,” it said. “The latest update reflects continuing pressure on PC shipments, but does not significantly change the factors driving the market," it said. With the PC market having now experienced four consecutive quarters of double-digit volume declines, “this type of prolonged slump is unprecedented, and lowers the bar for some improvement going forward,” it said.