PC Shipments on Record Decline in Q1 2013 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 11 April 2013 / 5,471 Views
PC shipments in the first quarter 2013, which ended March 31, 2013, have set a record for the worst decline in market history, according to data released by the IDC. Shipments declined by 13.9 percent when compared to the first quarter in 2012. 76.3 million PC's were shipped.
In the US shipments dropped to 14.2 million units. This is the worst first quarter since 2006. PC shipments have declined in nine of the last 10 fiscal quarters, or for nearly two and half straight years.
"At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market," said vice president of Clients and Displays at IDC Bob O'Donnell in a statement.
"While some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8, the radical changes to the UI, removal of the familiar Start button, and the costs associated with touch have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices. Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market."
The IDC has said the decline is due to consumers switching to smartphones and tablets. Also the low sales in Windows 8 thus far has hurt the market.
"The PC industry is struggling to identify innovations that differentiate PCs from other products and inspire consumers to buy and instead is meeting significant resistance to changes perceived as cumbersome or costly," read the report.
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PC shipments? so like... store bought over priced pieces of shit with windows 8 pre installed on them? What about sales of components of people who build their own machines? aka the gaming PC market? is that being tracked as a part of this? I highly doubt someone somewhere seen that I bought individually 3 separate upgrades for my machine last year and added that to the list as a New PC sale, if this is the death of High streets selling junk for 10x what the same parts would cost online then I'm happy to see it go.
The problem is, people like us are an absolutely tiny percentage of the overall market, and companies like Asus, Gigabyte, etc rely on their low-margin massive volume sales to the Dell's and HP's to spread the bulk of their R&D costs across. A fall in the mainstream PC market will hurt us through higher prices and less options. Not saying go out and buy overpriced computers from High Street, but its not something to celebrate.
The problem is, people like us are an absolutely tiny percentage of the overall market, and companies like Asus, Gigabyte, etc rely on their low-margin massive volume sales to the Dell's and HP's to spread the bulk of their R&D costs across. A fall in the mainstream PC market will hurt us through higher prices and less options. Not saying go out and buy overpriced computers from High Street, but its not something to celebrate.
Oh yeah. I see all the big corporations buying PC parts and having teams assembling them. The in-house assembled PCs must really account for a large share of the market, must not them?
the enthusiast market, like folks who build their own PCs, only make up a tiny slice of the overall pie. just more doomsaying, the US market is saturated with PCs which are already powerful enough for day-to-day use. if they didn't buy, they probably already own one. the key is businesses and corporations and schools, getting contracts to replace their PCs, and windows8 couldn't get that done. with windows7 out, many didn't see the need. however eventually a killer app will be released which will spur sales again, the PC is far from dead.
Power users will still use a pc and laptops. Now the non power user have other products to chose from, since they never really did before.
I think the problem is new, much more powerful and efficient chips are coming soon. Computers are about to have another power growth spurt.
Well now all 3 console makers are doomed I guess. Pretty soon every store will just be empty and all we'll be able to buy is Ipads!
Well explain how PC gaming is on a rise? I'd assume it's because of more custom built PCs. More and more people are learning how to build their own PCs so the PC gaming market that matters is thriving. The consumer PC market is declining for tablets. This article serves no relevancy to the gaming side of the PC market and should not exist on a website for video game news.
