PC Market falls ahead of Windows 10 launch, both Gartner and IDC agree

The market research firms Gartner and IDC have both released the latest figures for the PC shipments. Both firms report that PC market will see a decline this year of around 10 percent — Gartner says the PC market will decline by 9.5 by the end of the second quarter year-on-year, while IDC puts the figure a little higher, that is, 11.8 percent. 

There are several factors which have contributed to the decline in the PC shipments across the globe with Windows 10 launch being one of them. Manufacturers are trying clear as much inventory as they can ahead of the launch of Windows 10, which is set to take place on July 29th. Furthermore, currency fluctuations have also cause a fall in the shipments as some international currencies were devalued against the dollar, reducing the purchasing power of the consumers — making PCs more expensive for them. Plus, the end of Windows XP support is yet reason for the decline. “The slow PC shipments were largely anticipated as a result of stronger year-ago shipments relating to end of support for windows XP,” says IDC. Gartner, as reported a few days back as well, also believes the PC market will see an increase in 2016.

“The price hike of PCs became more apparent in some regions due to a sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar against local currencies,” Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “The price hike could hinder PC demand in these regions. Secondly, the worldwide PC market experienced unusually positive desk-based growth last year due to the end of Windows XP support. After the XP impact was phased out, there have not been any major growth drivers to stimulate a PC refresh. Lastly, the Windows 10 launch scheduled for 3Q15 has created self-regulated inventory control. PC vendors and the channels tried clearing inventory as much as possible before the Windows 10 launch.”

As for the manufacturers, Lenovo continues to lead market share by the end of the second quarter with a market share of 19.7 percent as per Gartner, while IDC says they have a 20.3 percent share. HP remains on the second spot followed by Dell on the third spot. Despite of leading the PC market, Lenovo has seen a decline in its shipments compared to the same quarter last year since the second quarter of 2013. IDC reports Apple to be on the fourth spot while the fifth spot is shared by ASUS and Acer Group. However, Gartner figures present a slightly different picture where Asus and Acer are on the third and fourth spot with a very minor difference in their market share.

Things are a bit different in the US, which also saw a decline in PC shipments, and HP is the leading manufacturer with a 26 percent market share. Dell and Lenovo on the second and third place respectively as per Gartner, but IDC places Apple to be on the third place followed by Lenovo.

It remains to be seen how the coming months will turn out to be for PC manufacturers, but considering the hype of Windows 10 and preliminary estimates, there’s a possibility we may get to see a growth in the PC market.