A report by The Guardian has revealed that PC sales in the US and UK have slumped in the last year.
The report, which combines data from research companies IDC and Gartner, states that year-on-year sales are around 5 per cent lower in comparison to last year. However, the figure of 17.8 million for the number of PCs shipped in the second quarter of this year was apparently significantly higher than the figure for the first quarter of 2011.
According to Gartner, year-on-year sales of PCs have declined by around 4.2 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while sales in the US have declined by 5.6 per cent.
However, sales of PCs in Asia boomed during the same period, with the market seeing growth of around 10 per cent. Tablet sales are excluded from the figures, but netbook sales also fell as companies and individuals held off upgrading both portable devices and PCs following the squeeze on budgets.
Gartner's principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa stated that 'after strong growth in shipments of consumer PCs for four years, driven by strong demand for mini-notebooks and low-priced consumer notebooks, the market is shifting to modest, but steady growth. The slow overall growth indicates that the PC market is still in a period of adjustment, which began in the second half of 2010.'
According to Kitagawa, some retailers have also been reluctant to purchase large numbers of PCs due to the hype surrounding tablets, especially Apple's iPad and iPad 2.
However, some companies are seeing growth in the apparently declining market. According to IDC, the top five PC manufacturers (ranked by volume of PC shipments) are HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and Asus. While most of the companies' volumes grew or shrunk by modest amounts, Lenovo notably had an increase in growth of 22.3 per cent.
What do you make of the slump? Have you been holding off from upgrading your PC or buying a new one? Let us know in the forums.
The report, which combines data from research companies IDC and Gartner, states that year-on-year sales are around 5 per cent lower in comparison to last year. However, the figure of 17.8 million for the number of PCs shipped in the second quarter of this year was apparently significantly higher than the figure for the first quarter of 2011.
According to Gartner, year-on-year sales of PCs have declined by around 4.2 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while sales in the US have declined by 5.6 per cent.
However, sales of PCs in Asia boomed during the same period, with the market seeing growth of around 10 per cent. Tablet sales are excluded from the figures, but netbook sales also fell as companies and individuals held off upgrading both portable devices and PCs following the squeeze on budgets.
Gartner's principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa stated that 'after strong growth in shipments of consumer PCs for four years, driven by strong demand for mini-notebooks and low-priced consumer notebooks, the market is shifting to modest, but steady growth. The slow overall growth indicates that the PC market is still in a period of adjustment, which began in the second half of 2010.'
According to Kitagawa, some retailers have also been reluctant to purchase large numbers of PCs due to the hype surrounding tablets, especially Apple's iPad and iPad 2.
However, some companies are seeing growth in the apparently declining market. According to IDC, the top five PC manufacturers (ranked by volume of PC shipments) are HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and Asus. While most of the companies' volumes grew or shrunk by modest amounts, Lenovo notably had an increase in growth of 22.3 per cent.
What do you make of the slump? Have you been holding off from upgrading your PC or buying a new one? Let us know in the forums.
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