Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -3.7% in 2014, an improvement from the previous forecast of -6%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. PC shipments in emerging regions remain constrained by ongoing competition from alternative devices and a number of economic/political challenges. However, commercial demand and even a rekindling of consumer interest in mature markets helped to boost results for the first half of 2014 as well as the outlook for the rest of the year.

PC shipments in mature regions are now projected to grow by 5.6% in 2014 - the highest since 2010 - with both consumer and commercial segments showing positive growth. On the other hand, the outlook for emerging market has been lowered slightly to reflect reduced stability and economic conditions in Asia/Pacific, Latin America, and Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMA).

The worldwide personal and entry-level storage (PELS) market was up by 1.5% year over year with almost 17 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Personal and Entry Level Storage Tracker. Shipment values increased along with unit shipments by 1.8% from a year ago to $1.5 billion.

Hard disk drive (HDD) vendors continued to increase their share of PELS units shipped, gaining 3.3 points year over year to grow to 77.6% market share in 2Q14. Although the entry-level storage market continued to be dominated by the mainstream non-HDD vendors with 58.8% unit shipment market share, their market share was down 13.0 points year over year.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 74.4 million units in the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14), a year-on-year decline of -1.7%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The results reflect the smallest decline in global PC shipments since the second quarter of 2012 when declining shipments of mini notebooks combined with a surge in tablet sales to disrupt the PC market.

Buoyed by both continued business PC replacements and returning consumer interest, the preliminary results for 2Q14 are markedly better than the projected decline of -7.1% for the quarter. Despite the end of Windows XP support in early April, it appears many Windows XP migrations continue to take place. Most major vendors saw solid growth, and early indications also point to desktop shipments being stronger than expected in some areas, signaling continued business buying. The consumer side also appears stronger than expected, with growing activity among the lower-priced models as well as Chromebooks.

Worldwide purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA) factory revenues declined -2.5% year over year to $664.5 million in the first quarter of 2014 (1Q14), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Purpose-Built Backup Appliance Tracker. In addition, the total PBBA open systems market fell -2.6% year over year in 1Q14 with revenues totaling $598.9 million while the mainframe market experienced a decline of -1.1% for the same period. Total worldwide PBBA capacity shipped for open systems and mainframe PBBA systems reached 398,280 terabytes, increasing 7.1% year over year.

"The worldwide PBBA market is showing maturity coupled with a typically slow first quarter of the calendar year," said Robert Amatruda, Research Director, Data Protection and Recovery. "We expect the PBBA market will resume growth over the months ahead as customers continue to embrace appliance form factors to meet their growing data protection and recovery challenges."

Worldwide PC monitor shipments totaled nearly 33.7 million units in the first quarter of 2014 (1Q14), a year-over-year decline of -0.4%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker. IDC expects worldwide shipments to continue on their current trajectory, slipping to 106 million units for the full year 2018.

"Despite the overall decline, the shipment totals were stronger than the forecast of 31 million units," said Phuong Hang, Program Director, Worldwide Trackers at IDC. "Geographically, Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions delivered the largest gains during the first quarter while Dell and HP both experienced solid shipment growth."

Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall -6.0% in 2014, a slight adjustment from the previous forecast of -6.1%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Mature regions benefitted primarily from a recovery surge in Western Europe while other mature regions performed modestly above expectations in the first quarter of 2014 (1Q14).

Emerging regions continued to see weak demand and difficult conditions, although the economic environment in Latin America had the largest impact. The impact to emerging regions - a cornerstone of long-term market stability - outweighed the short-term boost seen in mature regions. As a result, longer-term growth was lowered slightly (by less than a percent for 2015-2017), with 2015 at -1.6% year on year with subsequent years still between 0 and -1% growth.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 73.4 million units in the first quarter of 2014 (1Q14), a decline of -4.4% year-on-year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Although still in decline and with continuing weakness in consumer and emerging market segments, the preliminary results are slightly better than a projected decline of -5.3%.

Similar to the latter part of 2013, the upside in the first quarter arose primarily from demand in mature commercial markets. Commercial refresh projects, which had already been protracted, received a last push from the impending end of Windows XP support, particularly in Japan. In addition, slowing demand for tablets seems to have helped constrain previously drastic cutbacks in notebooks. Nevertheless, emerging regions continued to post weak results, with growth in Latin America and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ) falling even faster than recent declines as both economic conditions and continued tablet penetration stifled PC shipments.

Total worldwide PC monitor shipments were slightly below 35.0 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), a decrease of -0.4% compared to the previous quarter yet 2.9% more than forecast, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker. The -3.8% year-over-year growth in 4Q13 was largely due to declining PC desktop sales.

"Dell and HP both saw increases in unit shipments for the worldwide PC monitor market for the second time in a down year," said Jennifer Song, Research Analyst, Worldwide Trackers at IDC. "At a regional level, EMEA experienced the largest positive growth during the fourth quarter, with Italy and Spain posting the biggest gains."

Worldwide PC shipments fell by -9.8% in 2013, slightly better than a projected decline of -10.1%, but still the most severe contraction on record, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Fourth quarter results were slightly better than expected, but the outlook for emerging markets has deteriorated as competition from other devices and economic pressures mount. In mature regions, the fourth quarter was also slightly ahead of expectations, although the improvement seems driven by short-term factors like a slight rise in XP replacements and is not expected to last long.

Overall growth projections for 2014 were lowered by just over 2%, and subsequent years were lowered by less than 1%. However, the changes are enough to keep long-term growth just below zero, and push volumes below 300 million throughout the forecast rather than staying slightly above this level.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 82.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), representing a year-on-year contraction of -5.6%, a shade better than the forecast of -6.0% growth, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

For the full year 2013, unit shipments declined -10.0% from 2012, a record drop reflecting the changes in mobility and personal computing affecting the market. While commercial purchases helped to prevent a larger decline, the consumer side remained weak.

Total worldwide PC monitor shipments were more than 35.0 million units in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13), an increase of 4.5% compared to the previous quarter and 1.2 million units more than forecast, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker. Year-over-year growth was -8.6% in 3Q13, largely due to the ongoing decline in PC sales.

"Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ), Western Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) outperformed the overall market in the third quarter and increased their regional market shares," said Jennifer Song, Research Analyst, Worldwide Trackers at IDC. "China and India were the top growth drivers within APeJ, while Germany and Russia were the leading country markets in Europe."

Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -10.1% in 2013, slightly below the previous projection of -9.7%, and by far the most severe yearly contraction on record, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Interest in PCs has remained limited, leading to little indication of positive growth beyond replacement of existing systems.

Total shipments are expected to decline by an additional -3.8% in 2014 before turning slightly positive in the longer term. At these rates, total PC shipments will remain just above 300 million during the forecast - barely ahead of 2008 volumes. Even in emerging markets - a primary growth engine of the PC market - shipments are projected to decline in 2014 and recover by only a few percent during the forecast.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 81.6 million units in the third quarter of 2013 (3Q13). In year-on-year terms, the market contracted -7.6%, ahead of a projected decline of -9.5% for the quarter, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. While shipments remained weak during the early part of the quarter, the market was somewhat buoyed by business purchases, as well as channel intake of Windows 8.1-based systems during September.

A slight uptick in business volume contributed to shipments. The top three vendors (Lenovo, HP, and Dell), which all have an important presence in the enterprise and public sectors, each saw modest positive year-on-year growth during the quarter. Conversely, consumer sentiment remained lukewarm at best, as evidenced by the continued struggles of Acer and ASUS.

Dell moved ahead of Samsung in the worldwide PC monitor market for the first time since 2007, shipping more than 5.0 million units in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13). Total PC monitor shipments for the quarter were 33.5 million units, which was 1.6 million units more than forecast but still represented a year-over-year decline of -0.7%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker.

"Dell grew its unit shipments by 12.7% compared to the first quarter of 2013, which vaulted the company into the number one position worldwide. However, Samsung continues to be the worldwide revenue leader, despite its declining shipment numbers," said Jennifer Song, Research Analyst, Worldwide Trackers at IDC. "On a geographic basis, China remained the largest market for PC monitors with 29.2% share, followed by the U.S. with 18.4% share. The number three market, Brazil, trailed by some distance with 4.3% share."

The worldwide smart connected device market, comprised of PCs, tablets, and smartphones, is forecast to grow 27.8% year over year in 2013, slightly lower than the 30.3% growth in 2012. The growth will be driven by tablet and smartphone shipments, while the PC outlook has been lowered by 10% in 2013. As a result, the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker expects tablet shipments to surpass total PC shipments (desktop plus portable PCs) in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13).

PCs shipments are still expected to be greater than tablet shipments for the full year, but IDC forecasts tablet shipments will surpass total PC shipments on an annual basis by the end of 2015. Smartphones will continue to ship in high volumes, surpassing 1.4 billion units in 2015 and accounting for 69% of all smart connected device shipments worldwide.

Worldwide PC shipments are now expected to fall by -9.7% in 2013, further deepening what is already the longest market contraction on record, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The new forecast reflects not only a continued expansion of mobile device options at the expense of PCs, but also marked the cessation of emerging market growth that the industry had come to rely on in recent years. The market as a whole is expected to decline through at least 2014, with only single-digit modest growth from 2015 onward, and never regain the peak volumes last seen in 2011.

WD, a Western Digital company, announced that it has founded the Storage Products Association (SPA) with other hard drive companies to promote the merits and value of rotating magnetic storage technologies, as well as to make consumers and professionals aware of how critical hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state hybrid drives (SSHDs) are to their digital lives.

SPA members include HGST, Seagate, Toshiba and WD. The organization helps storage manufacturers and users understand and support current and future storage needs, including the key role of hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state hybrid drives, in an effective storage mix for all consumer and business environments. SPA will provide education to its customers, partners, members and users of HDDs and SSHDs. SPA will also participate in industry and user events, and will publish materials about end users' storage needs and effective usage of a mix of storage technologies.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 75.6 million units in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13), down -11.4% compared to the same quarter in 2012 but slightly better than expected, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Total shipments were effectively right on forecasts of 75.4 million and growth of -11.7%, although Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ) were a few points below expectations with the difference made up in the United States.

The numbers reflect a market that is still struggling with the transition to touch-based systems running Windows 8 as well as justifying ultrabook prices in the face of economic pressures and competition from tablets and other devices. A silver lining is that a number of vendors and regions seemed to be focused on inventory reduction during the second quarter, which could reflect planned launches of new models as well as lower inventory going into the second half of the year. However, it also reflects some caution among vendors and the channels in the face of remaining challenges for PCs and more than a year of declining shipments.

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Continued decline in demand for PC desktops has led International Data Corporation (IDC) to lower its estimate of PC monitors shipped in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13) to 33.8 million units, down from its previous forecast of 34.7 million units for the quarter. In the latest update of the Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker, IDC also lowered its total shipment forecast for 2013 from 140.1 million units to 134.4 million units, which will represent a 9.9% year-on-year decline. By 2017, worldwide shipments are expected to drop further to 113.6 million units.

"The continued decline in PC desktops is bringing about changes in strategy and product focus in the PC monitor market," said Jennifer Song, Research Analyst at IDC. "With Windows 8 operating system, we expect to see more touch-based monitors although price points are a little high. Average screen size of the market is also expected to increase to 21.4" in 2017 from 20.4" in 2012."

New monthly PC tracking in the world's top PC markets from International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals slower than expected growth in China during the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13). Although the slowdown is partially due to the timing of Chinese New Year and other expected factors, new budget cuts from the government as well as anti-corruption measures are slowing purchases more than expected. March should recover somewhat in China, but not enough to offset the weak February results.

With China now the top PC market worldwide, accounting for over 21% of global shipments in 2012, the slow February results and likely impact on March are expected to lower first quarter global PC shipments by roughly 2% from recent forecasts. Other monthly results indicate close-to-forecast market performance in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America, and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ) while supply chain data indicate room for a slightly larger downward adjustment, according to the IDC Monthly PC Trackers.

According to the top ten Taiwan ICT market trend predictions of 2013 published by IDC, as reaction to the uncertainty of prosperity in the next year, the enterprises will continuously increase IT budget and expenditure with primary growth power from cloud computing, mobility and the market driven by massive data, and expects a robust growth of 3.9%. To respond to these trends and needs, the storage devices will definitely continue to develop toward energy-saving, high efficiency and compactness. Therefore, Apacer correspondingly launches three SATA 3.0 SuperSpeed transmission interface SSDs, including 2.5-inch SFD 25S-M, MO-297-compliant SFD 18S5-M and mSATA S1-M designed in compliance with MO-300, respectively applicable for cloud data center, various servers, embedded system, and compact Ultrabook and Networking devices, which meet different needs for cloud, massiveness and mobility.

Worldwide revenues for microprocessors designed for mobile PCs, desktop PCs, and PC servers will grow 1.6% to $40.7 billion in 2013 according to a new forecast report from International Data Corporation (IDC). The IDC report, Worldwide PC Microprocessor 2012-2016 Forecast, also forecasts that worldwide unit shipments for PC microprocessors will grow 3.2% to nearly 384 million units in 2013.

"Economic and technological inhibitors that took the PC microprocessor revenue down about 2.4% in 2012 will continue through the first half of 2013," said Shane Rau, vice president for PC and server semiconductor and enabling technologies research at IDC. "Macroeconomic uncertainty has forced OEM and IT customers to reduce orders and focus on execution, and reduce expectations after the launch of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system in late October. Delays in PC purchases caused by Windows 8 and the encroachment of media tablets on low-end PCs have further cut into PC microprocessor demand growth."

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 89.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), down 6.4% compared to the same quarter in 2011 and worse than the forecasted decline of 4.4%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. Although the quarter marked the beginning of a new stage in the PC industry with the launch of Windows 8, its impact did not quickly change recently sluggish PC demand, and the PC market continued to take a back seat to competing devices and sustained economic woes. As a result, the fourth quarter of 2012 marked the first time in more than five years that the PC market has seen a year-on-year decline during the holiday season.

The lackluster fourth quarter results were not entirely surprising given the spate of challenges the PC market faced over the course of 2012. IDC had expected the second half of 2012 to be difficult. Consumers as well as PC vendors and distribution channels continued to be diverted from PC sales by ongoing demand for tablets and smartphones. In addition, questions about the use of touch on Windows PCs vs. tablets slowed commercial spending on PCs.

Semiconductor revenues worldwide will see nominal growth this year at less than 1% reaching $304 billion according to the year-end 2012 update of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Semiconductor Applications Forecaster (SAF). The SAF also forecasts that semiconductor revenues will improve by 4.9% to $319 billion in 2013 and log a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1% from 2011-2016, reaching $368 billion in 2016.

Weakness in PC demand, DRAM and overall memory price deterioration, and semiconductor inventory rationalization, coupled with continued global macroeconomic uncertainty from lower global GDP growth, a slowdown in China, the Eurozone debt crisis and recession, Japan's recession, and ongoing fear of fiscal cliff negotiations' impact on IT spending by corporations have all been levers affecting global semiconductor demand this year. Bright spots for the semiconductor market include smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, and automotive electronics, which IDC expects will continue to be key drivers of growth over the coming years.