ASUS recently predicted a boon in desktop PC and AIO shipments in the face of a slowdown in tablet sales, further amplified by the discontinuation of Windows XP support. With the second quarter of the year effectively behind us, the International Data Corporation (IDC) has reported that the desktop PC business has declined at a “markedly better” pace than previously forecasted.
IDC noted that 74.4 million PC shipments for 2Q14, a 1.7 percent decline over 2Q13 – still a decline, but not nearly as bad as what was expected. The original prediction was for a 7.4 percent decay in prebuilt PC sales for 2Q14. The IDC says that the recovery is likely not permanent, noting that the sales pick-up is potentially due in large part to a stagnation of tablet sales (consumers are happy with what they have) and discontinuation of Windows XP official support. Losing XP support is forcing businesses to upgrade in mature markets and gives an opportunity for emergent markets to play catch-up.
The IDC says that this recovery has not warranted a change of its existing projections for the rest of the year, instead stating that it suspects sales will return to their decline in short order. PC manufacturers topping the sales charts haven’t changed much, ranked in marketshare as:
- 19.6% - Lenovo
- 18.3% - HP
- 14% - Dell
- 8.2% - Acer
- 6.2% - ASUS
- 33.6% - All others combined.
For those curious about the DIY market, our sources at component companies (Intel, AMD, nVidia) have noted that DIY PC building is still growing.
- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.