Thursday, October 11th 2012
PC Shipments Set to Decline in 2012 for First Time in 11 Years
After entering the year with high hopes, the global PC market has seen its prospects dim, with worldwide shipments set to decline in 2012 for the first time in 11 years, according to the IHS iSuppli Compute Platforms Service at information and analytics provider IHS.
The total PC market in 2012 is expected to contract by 1.2 percent to 348.7 million units, down from 352.8 million in 2011, as shown in the figure below. Not since 2001-more than a decade ago-has the worldwide PC industry suffered such a decline.
"There was great hope through the first half that 2012 would prove to be a rebound year for the PC market," said Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for computer systems at IHS. "Now three quarters through the year, the usual boost from the back-to-school season appears to be a bust, and both AMD and Intel's third-quarter outlooks appear to be flat to down. Optimism has vanished and turned to doubt, and the industry is now training its sights on 2013 to deliver the hoped-for rebound. All this is setting the PC market up for its first annual decline since the dot-com bust year of 2001."
From Hope to Disappointment
The year started off with major hope for Intel's ultrabooks at the annual Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. New and innovative form factors like convertibles, combined with the first appearance of Windows 8 demos on display, provided a fresh wave of enthusiasm for the possibility of a revitalized PC market. Even when first-quarter PC shipments came in, the less-than-stellar results were thought to be a minor setback.
The high expectations continued midyear during the big PC event at Computex in Taiwan, as Intel plugged its latest Ivy Bridge processor. Shipments during the second quarter, however, once again disappointed.
For now, important questions remain for the PC market and the rest of the year:
● How much impact will Windows 8 really have toward boosting the PC market in the fourth quarter?
● Will continuing global economic concerns neutralize whatever hype or interest has been generated by ultrabooks?
● Will mobile computing gadgets such as tablets and smartphones win over PCs during the crucial holiday selling season, taking precious consumer dollars and keeping PC sales at bay?
There are signs that a strong rebound could still occur in 2013. While IHS has reduced its forecast for them, the new ultrabooks and other ultrathin notebook computers remain viable products with the potential to redraw the PC landscape, and the addition of Windows 8 to the mix could prove potent and irresistible to consumers. Whether a newly configured PC space could then stand up to the powerful smartphone and tablet markets, however, remains to be seen.
The total PC market in 2012 is expected to contract by 1.2 percent to 348.7 million units, down from 352.8 million in 2011, as shown in the figure below. Not since 2001-more than a decade ago-has the worldwide PC industry suffered such a decline.
From Hope to Disappointment
The year started off with major hope for Intel's ultrabooks at the annual Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. New and innovative form factors like convertibles, combined with the first appearance of Windows 8 demos on display, provided a fresh wave of enthusiasm for the possibility of a revitalized PC market. Even when first-quarter PC shipments came in, the less-than-stellar results were thought to be a minor setback.
The high expectations continued midyear during the big PC event at Computex in Taiwan, as Intel plugged its latest Ivy Bridge processor. Shipments during the second quarter, however, once again disappointed.
For now, important questions remain for the PC market and the rest of the year:
● How much impact will Windows 8 really have toward boosting the PC market in the fourth quarter?
● Will continuing global economic concerns neutralize whatever hype or interest has been generated by ultrabooks?
● Will mobile computing gadgets such as tablets and smartphones win over PCs during the crucial holiday selling season, taking precious consumer dollars and keeping PC sales at bay?
There are signs that a strong rebound could still occur in 2013. While IHS has reduced its forecast for them, the new ultrabooks and other ultrathin notebook computers remain viable products with the potential to redraw the PC landscape, and the addition of Windows 8 to the mix could prove potent and irresistible to consumers. Whether a newly configured PC space could then stand up to the powerful smartphone and tablet markets, however, remains to be seen.
39 Comments on PC Shipments Set to Decline in 2012 for First Time in 11 Years
Coming up next...those same laptops packed with Windows 8! With free downgrade to Windows 7!! Oooooo, lets watch those shipments drop more!!
The enthusiast PC segment would need a massive all-around price-cut asap or untouchably higher performance than what anything else has to offer out there...
Those are really tough calls, but they are our only hopes or we will become some 0.1% exotic breed :shadedshu
I never did get that in my head.
If you can plug in a toaster in a wall socket, you can build a computer.
Drop in a couple plug in items into a board and plug it in a wall. TECH!! BINGO, look Ma, I'm a techie. You can be so proud of me now.
Ahhh. I think I woke up in a lousy mood, sorry.
I'll go get some coffee now and re-think what I said.
:eek:
Prices on prebuilt systems aren't high there the lowest they have ever been. You can buy a whole system for $350. And all it takes to build a system is just plug the stuff in. It didn't use to be that way
Looking at the numbers we see the change is less than 2% over a full year.
This is global, but haven't PCs been on a decline in the US and Europe for quite some time now?
Economics
Gadgets (phones, tablets and so on)
DIY builders
And so on,…
Who knows, maybe the average Smartphone household has a phone for every member in the house and only one communal computer. I bet these numbers would look very different if gadgets were considered computers too.
I’ll also add that my old Core 2 Quad Q6600 system and Core i7 920 are still very powerful. Its hard for me to imagine replacing them and the Core i7 920 was released in 2008. That’s what, about 4 years going on 5,….? Intel really outdid themselves with this chip design (Bloomfield) and others like it (Lynnfield, Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge). Over the years I have added systems (Core i7 860, Core i5 2500K and Core i7 3930K) because of expanding needs but nothing has truly needed to be replaced or upgraded because they perform so well.
The only reason I would want a PC instead of a laptop is the power. An insignificant commoner couldn't care less about how powerful a system is in that respect, so long as it runs everything in a timely manner.
If you don't play games or do video encoding etc. any computer now days will be good for many years, heck I'm still using a Q6600 and it gets everything done for me.
I remember back when I paid over $2000 for my Dell Inspiron 9200 with a Pentium M and ATI 9700 Pro still works and is just fine for Facebook and youtube(which will cover a large amount of people)
Back in the day the only option you had were desktop computers and maybe laptops.
Today you can choose tablet, notebook, phone or desktop.