PC Shipments Beat Expectations in Q1, Showing First Growth Since 2012, Says IDC

Worldwide shipments of PCs inched up 0.6 percent in Q1, growing for the first time since Q1 2012, said an IDC report. Shipments of desktops, laptops and workstations, totaling 60.3 million units, were projected to decline 1.8 percent for the period, IDC said. The U.S. had a slight decline, while other mature markets outdid emerging countries, it said. Global growth drivers included tight supplies of NAND and DRAM, which led vendors to boost shipments to lock in supply ahead of future cost increases, said IDC. The PC market also “continued along a path of stabilization” that began in second half 2016, it said. Competition from tablets and smartphones, along with lengthening product life cycles, caused a 30 percent falloff in PC sales from their peak in 2011, said analyst Jay Chou. The commercial market is beginning a replacement cycle that should drive growth, but consumer demand will “remain under pressure,” Chou said Tuesday. Growth in gaming PCs and tablet saturation should help move the consumer market “toward stabilization,” he said. In the U.S., notebook PC sales dropped in Q1 after a strong holiday season, said the research firm, and commercial PC growth was driven primarily by Chromebook sales. Globally, HP regained its market lead in Q1 at 21.8 percent, after losing the number one spot in Q2 2013 to Lenovo, IDC said. It credited HP’s “deep portfolio” and strong notebook sales across all regions, with 13.1 million shipments, up 13 percent over the year-ago quarter. Lenovo held second place with 20.4 percent market share, on shipments up 1.7 percent to 12.3 million units. Dell shipments were up 6 percent to 9.5 million units, giving it 16 percent share, followed by Apple at 7 percent share and Acer with 6.8 percent share, it said. Dell’s growth in the U.S. slowed relative to other markets, it said.