IDC: NZ's PC market surprise growth will not last
In the fourth quarter of 2018, New Zealand's traditional PC market experienced a 1.5% year-on-year (YoY) growth in unit shipments, according to the latest IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
This follows the 1.6% YoY growth seen in 3Q18 which reversed three consecutive quarters of decline.
The New Zealand PC market for the 2018 calendar year saw shipments of commercial PC devices grow 2.4% while consumer devices shrank -7.9% YoY.
"The consumer market continues to struggle with people not feeling the need to own a PC, phone and tablet anymore, with one or two devices now able to satisfy consumer's needs. Despite this, specific areas continue to perform well, with ultra-slim and gaming notebooks both growing within the consumer market in 2018", says IDC New Zealand associate market analyst Liam Landon.
"The opposite was seen in commercial PC Devices, encouraged by the end of support for Windows 7 in 2020. Overall, commercial organisations, particularly in the second half of the year, saw increased demand. However, Intel's CPU shortage delayed shipments, predominantly on low-end commercial devices, stemmed growth in 2018Q4
Despite the growth witnessed at the end of 2018, IDC predicts that New Zealand's traditional PC market in 2019 will decline by -4.4% YoY.
"Within the first half of the year, shortages on Intel processors will restrict growth in the market", says Landon.
"Despite some growth from Windows 7 end of life refreshes, commercial shipments will fall in 2019. However, growth in purchases of Chromebooks by consumers for use in schools will help to offset the ongoing declines in the consumer market.
