Last week we saw a report describing the downturn in PC sales and it has been repeated today in a report from Gartner. With a global decline of sales this quarter totalling over 10% compared to the first quarter of 2012 the trend of falling PC sales continues for the fourth quarter in a row. It seems that tablets and smartphones are making headway into the market and many people who would have purchased an inexpensive TV for surfing and other light-duty tasks are satisfied with a smaller mobile device. In the US the decline was a hair under 10% and only Apple and Lenovo showed any growth. Get the full global breakdown at DigiTimes.
"Worldwide PC shipments totaled 79.2 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a 11.2% decline from the first quarter of 2012, according to Gartner. Global PC shipments went below 80 million units for the first time since the second quarter of 2009. All regions showed a decrease in shipments, with the EMEA region experiencing the steepest decline."
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Does “others” account for
Does “others” account for made-to-order companies like CyberPowerPC and the local ma and pa shop?
I’m probably 100% wrong about this, just hypothesizing…back in the day people who had basic knowledge of computers would purchase a name brand PC like a Dell, Gateway, HP, etc…
But nowadays, in a tech driven world and with the internet it seems like these same kinds of people knows a friend who has a lot more knowledge of computers, and can recommend non-mainstream PC’s. (I know, I was one of them until I learned to build my own.) Those with basic knowledge of computers are smarter shoppers now.
I’m probably way off base there, but I’m just throwing that thought out there.
I really want the PC and PC gaming industry to thrive again.
Yeah, I’d be interested to
Yeah, I’d be interested to know how the computer hardware side of things is faring. Most of the people I know build their own PC’s now.
Absolutely! These ANALysts
Absolutely! These ANALysts should at least find ways to take things like non-OEM motherboard and other peripheral shipments into account.
The PC will never die, but
The PC will never die, but the hay days are over, there will remain gamers, but not enough to support as many gaming websites or OEMs! PC are going to cost more money, as the economies of scale will not be there to support an over supply of products! Look at AMD and the cost of their new limited edition 5 gigahertz APU! No amount of cheering or hype is going to return a market that is played out, or consumers that are burned out! The only good that may come out of this PC bubble bursting, is that the remaining OEMs will be forced to build higher quality PC, as the amount of different models(SKUs) will be much smaller! Hopefully the few PC OEMs that remain will be forced to give consumers a better product and much better support! Keep your old XP and windows 7 computers, as after the gold rush is over, they may prove to be a valuable asset!
Normally I would agree with
Normally I would agree with you, but I’m still optimistic due to lower cost gaming machines like the Steambox, Piston and Shield coming out. If they cost around the same or less than a PS4 or an XBox 720 and deliver the same graphics performance…the comeback of gaming on a PC could very well be imminent.
Yes, but this article is
Yes, but this article is about PCs, and not dedicated gaming devices! The Steambox if it can be used as a PC could very well be the next wave! In fact these devices are part of the reason for the shrinking pc market! I am very interested in the SteamBox, but only one with Gabe’s fingerprints on it! I hope Gabe would also develop a box that gaming developers would love to use to create games on, such as a box with AMD A300/320 series APUs with FirePro integrated graphics! Games just do not pop out of the ether, and Gabe, The Linux, and the opensource (Blender, etc) software and a low cost game developer SteamBox, as well as a gaming SteamBox would RULE!
most people i know buy mac
most people i know buy mac since windows is too arcane now.
yes they have tablets, yes they have smartphones, but the kicker is that their son or daughter is now buying them a macbook pro when the xp machine is being replaced.
win 8 was a travesty and the new generation is not going to it and is taking their parents with them.
so of course mac is booming
at the end of the day a mac
at the end of the day a mac is still a personal computer. i know that apple is and has been pushing the ipod, tablet, and iphone because that is their bread and butter. think of when steve jobs was around, that was where the main push was. there were quite a few people out there who were upset that the macpro wasn’t getting much love compared to the mobile devices. dont’ get me wrong i have nothing against macs because i used them at school and i had a ipod mini at one time. i love the fact i can build my own pc and have been doing it for quite a while now.
InformationWeek reported at
InformationWeek reported at the start of the year that analyst expectation was for tablets to reach 136 million units, up 25% while desktop PC sales would fall to 143 million. Based on those figures and the burgeoning tablet market, tablet sales should take over as the most popular computing option during 2013.
Oh wait the above was actually referring to Netbooks in 2009…LOL!
HDD sales drop only 2-3% if I
HDD sales drop only 2-3% if I am not wrong. Also don’t forget that they bought Windows for $15-$30 online. So they didn’t had to buy a new PC.
People just upgrade, they don’t buy new PCs.