PC market back on the downslide, says IDC

In the first quarter of 2019, New Zealand's Traditional PC market experienced a -8.3% year-on-year (YoY) decline in unit shipments, according to the latest IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

This follows the 1.5% YoY growth seen in the last quarter of 2018, returning the market to decline after two consecutive quarters of growth.

The New Zealand PC market for 2019Q1 saw shipments of commercial PC devices decline -4.8% while consumer devices shrank -12.4% YoY.

"The commercial market continues to outperform the consumer market with strong use cases for businesses, whereas consumers are seeing use cases dwindle," says IDC New Zealand associate market analyst Liam Landon.

"Ultraslim and convertible notebooks will continue to take share from traditional notebooks in both market segments, although both the consumer and commercial markets are anticipated to decline with lengthening lifespans of devices as well as increased usage of smartphones.

"High inventory across consumer and commercial notebooks meant some delays on shipments. Government sector projects, as well as the first growth for commercial desktops since the end of 2017, helped to offset declines in the commercial market. However, declines for commercial notebooks and other segments meant weakening shipments YoY.

Despite the growth towards the end of 2018, IDC predicts that New Zealand's Traditional PC market will continue to decline in 2019, with a drop of -6.1% YoY expected.

"Shortages on Intel processors should begin to alleviate; despite these reprieves, the market will continue to struggle," says Landon.

This decline follows the predictions made by IDC in the previous market research release.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, New Zealand's traditional PC market experienced a 1.5% year-on-year (YoY) growth in unit shipments.

This followed 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.

"Within the first half of the year, shortages on Intel processors will restrict growth in the market", Landon said at the time.

"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.