PC market dips 7.7% to 73.7 million in Q3 2015

“The global PC market has experienced price increases of around 10 percent throughout the year, due to the sharp appreciation of the US dollar against local currencies”. Hewlett-Packard Co.s shipments also fell 4 percent, followed by Dell Inc., whose shipments rose by 0.5 percent.

While it is nice to see that someone is optimistic in these dark, cynical times, it is not as if the PC market could get much worse and it is hard to see what, short of a lightning bolt from Zeus is going to wake it up. Inventory in the sales channels decreased significantly by the end of the quarter, making way for more Windows 10 machines.

Asia Pacific PC shipments totalled 26.3 million units in Q3, down 1.7 percent year-on-year; mobile shipments in the region, however, grew 2.2 percent for the period.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, said: “These impacted regions, which include EMEA, Japan and Latin America, posted double-digit declines in the third quarter”.

“Across many regions, the channel remained focused on clearing Windows 8 inventory before a more complete portfolio of models incorporating Windows 10 and Intel Skylake processors comes on the scene”, IDC says.

While third-quarter 2015 results illustrated gloomy market conditions for the PC market, there is a positive aspect in the results.

Gartner added that it is not all doom and gloom for the PC market; as part of its 2015 personal technology survey, 50 percent of consumers expressed intention to purchase a PC in the next 12 months, with 21 percent looking at a tablet purchase.

IDC said the quarter’s struggles were consistent with what it had expected to be a “challenging” market financially, as “currency devaluation continued to inhibit PC shipments”. HP had weak shipments in EMEA, but they were offset by shipment growth in Asia/Pacific and the US. “Flattening performance in Asia/Pacific and lackluster volume elsewhere were offset by a strong quarter in the USA where the vendor continues to aggressively expand partnerships”, the report said.

Companies also struggled to limit price swings as shifting currency exchange rates inhibited PC shipments in the quarter, according to IDC.

Worldwide, Lenovo Group (0998HK) consolidated its hold on the top spot, rising to 20.3% from 19.6% a year earlier, by Gartner’s number, with 14.995 million units shipped.

Here’s IDC’s tale of the tape for the quarter. Dell did well in most regions, but it had a double-digit decline in shipments in Japan. “New designs running Windows 10 and powered by Intel’s new Skylake processors are coming to market and may represent the most compelling reason we’ve had in years for consumers to upgrade their PCs”. Whether this compulsion translates into actual sales remains to be seen.