Gartner cuts worldwide device shipment growth forecast for 2015

This year, 2.5 billion computer devices are expected to get shipped worldwide, representing a 1.5 increase, year over year. And in perhaps the most telling sign there is of a depressed device market, Gartner says total spending on new devices will drop by 5.7 percent this year to just $606 million, the first time since 2010 that spending has fallen.

This estimate is however a 1.3% point drop from Gartner’s estimate in the last quarter.

Garner has adjusted its forecast because of the continued slowdown of PC shipments in Western Europe, Russia, and Japan, it says in the report.

In contrast, the mobile phone market is showing growth, with the emerging markets driving the smartphone industry, including China who is leading the way.

According to Gartner’s findings, the end of the migration from Windows XP negatively affected the PC market globally during the first half of 2015; however, the greater impact remains the currency depreciation against the dollar.

‘PC vendors are increasingly reducing their inventory levels – by at least 5% until the end of 2015 – as a way to minimise pricing exposure in the channel.’.

Global PC sales are expected to shrink to 300 million units this year, a decline of 4.5 percent from 2014, market research firm Gartner said in a report this week.

“The outlook for the major applications that drive the semiconductor market, including PCs, smartphones and tablets, have all been revised downward”, said Jon Erensen, research director.

For Gartner’s purposes, devices include traditional PCs, such as desktop PCs and notebooks; ultramobiles (premium), such as Microsoft’s Windows 8 Intel x86 products and Apple’s MacBook Air; ultramobiles (tablets and clamshells), such as iPad, iPad mini, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, Nexus 7 and Acer Iconia Tab 8; and mobile phones.

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Yet mobile phone prices continue to fall. And as “suppliers and buyers adjust to new prices, Windows 10 could boost replacements during 2016”, Gartner fortells. Tablets will account for 207 million units, a decline of 5.9% from 2014.

The growth will however be affected by the flat performance in high-end Android smartphones and general softness in the Chinese smartphone market. China, Annette Zimmermann, researcher at Gartner, suggests is getting saturated, as there are not many first time buyers. “The tablet has become a “nice to have” device, and there is no real need for an upgrade as regularly as for the phone”. Emerging markets are witnessing a sizeable share of feature phones and an opportunity for manufactures to exploit.