The Free Windows 10 Upgrade Does No Good to the PC World, IDC Says
Sales of new PCs keep falling, the company revealsPC Market Stability Remains Elusive as Markets Continue to Struggle, According to IDC
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., June 9, 2016 – Worldwide PC shipments are forecast to decline by 7.3% year over year in 2016 according to an updated forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The outlook continues to call for progressively smaller declines through 2017 followed by stable volume in 2018. However, growth in 2016 is now expected to be roughly 2% below earlier projections as conditions have been weaker than expected. Growth in the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16) came in at -12.5%, just below IDC's forecast of -11.3%, and inhibitors such as weak currencies, depressed commodity prices, political uncertainty, and delayed projects continue to constrain shipments.
Although growth rates for devices such as phones and tablets continue to fall, potentially reducing the competitive pressure on PCs, we have not seen this translate into stronger PC shipments. The financial pressure on consumers across regions, and the availability of alternatives such as delaying a PC replacement by using a free Windows 10 upgrade or relying more on other devices continues to pressure consumer PC shipments. Similarly, while a large share of enterprises are evaluating Windows 10, the pace of new PC purchases has not yet stabilized commercial PC shipments.
Detachable Tablets also present a growing challenge as specs and price increasingly compare favorably against notebook PCs. Combining detachable tablets with PCs, the market is projected to decline by just over 2 percent in 2016 with small positive growth in later years, though still falling well short of peak shipments.
"The latest update reflects continuing pressure on PC shipments, but does not significantly change the factors driving the market," said Loren Loverde, vice president, Worldwide Tracker Forecasting and PC research. "In addition, we have now had four consecutive quarters of double-digit volume declines. This type of prolonged slump is unprecedented, and lowers the bar for some improvement going forward. Unfortunately, the PC market still faces some persistent challenges, and for now, improvement continues to mean slower declines."
Hi there
How come people like Gartner and IDC get so much respect for stating the blantantly obvious that even a 5 year old could predict.
Why don't people EVER realize
1) newer PC's last a lot longer than older ones plus have better hardware so no reason to buy new ones so often
2) Desktop PC's are essentially DEAD except for specialized applications - and users creating their own rigs - the home market for desktops is essentially
also DEAD with few exceptions. A lot of people simply use small "Cubes" and NAS boxes / servers where before they might have bought a PC.
3) a lot of mobile computing is often easier done via smart phone etc than a full blown laptop.
The fact that the market is much smaller than it used to be doesn't mean there's NO market -- it's just a different market.
The same with writeable CD's / DVD's -- market for these also falling -- no problems -- and who buys floppy disks any more.
Cheers
jimbo
Did Microsoft (or anyone) ever say that the purpose of the free Windows 10 upgrade was to revive PC sales? I never read or thought that.
Did Microsoft (or anyone) ever say that the purpose of the free Windows 10 upgrade was to revive PC sales? I never read or thought that.
I doubt that MS thought that the free upgrade would increase PC sales. A free upgrade is going to have the opposite results.
Yes, Even in a bad month, the PC market (desktops & laptops) still dwarfs the sales of tablets, for understandable reasons. A bad month in PC sales is 25-30 *million* PC sales *per month*--whereas a "robust" PC market is 40M + per month... In just two months in a bad sales year, PCs still outsell xBone & PS4 *combined*--for all of the years both consoles have been selling--or, the xBox 360 for the entire 10 years it was available! In a mere two months...Perspective is a marvelous thing......
The fact that the market is much smaller than it used to be doesn't mean there's NO market -- it's just a different market.
The same with writeable CD's / DVD's -- market for these also falling -- no problems -- and who buys floppy disks any more.
Cheers
jimbo
Also, millions of people have become savvy enough to upgrade their existing desktops at home--the Amazon market for computer peripherals like motherboards, PSU, GPUs, CPUS, and RAM is booming, for instance. A huge selection in hardware peripheral choice and availability doesn't happen for small and shrinking markets...Sales of *new* desktop PCs are just part of the picture...Intel has been reporting record CPU profits, for instance, and AMD is launching new GPU (Polaris) and CPU (Zen) products this year--that will only serve desktop & laptop PC markets.
The component-level upgradable x86 PC is still far and away the best value going in all computer tech, imo. I don't see that changing for obvious reasons.
