PC market continue to slide in the first quarter of 2015

Date: 09/05/2015
PC market continue to fall in Q1 2015 with shipments reaching 115.7 million units worldwide, PC market including tablets down by 7% as per Canalys in 1st Q 2015. Apple is ranked number one by Canalys, although it has seen 16% drop in its total PC shipments.

Further analysis shared by Canalys includes:
Apple has shipped 17.2 million units, taking a 15% share of the market. Lenovo and HP are ranked second and third whose shipment has grown in single digit in Q1 2015 and increased their market share. Samsung hold a fourth spot whose tablet sales fell and that led to Dell to fifth place. Samsung and Dell took 8.2% shipment market share with 9.5 and 9.4 million units respectively.

‘The growth drivers that previously helped the market through 2014 will have little effect this year. Vendors are struggling with exchange rate fluctuations which is making financial planning more difficult and forcing price increases’, commented Tim Coulling, Canalys Senior Analyst. ‘These challenges, combined with a softening of demand as Windows 10 draws nearer along with Microsoft’s free upgrade plans, means PC market declines will be greater in the second quarter than they were in the first.’

"The desktop category no longer benefits from shipments driven by XP migration", said Rushabh Doshi, Canalys Analyst. "As a result, we expect to see significant shipment declines in 2015 when compared to 2014."

Canalys reported the notebook market fared better, but after two quarters of falling less than 1%, declines have now increased to 4%. "The notebook category faces significant challenges for the rest of the year as Microsoft has restricted the Windows with Bing program to notebooks with sub 14-inch screen sizes. Channel inventory has been building since Microsoft announced the change and this will need to adjust before significant orders return", continued Doshi. "Any price rises for Windows notebooks will play into the hands of Google who is making strides in improving Chrome OS for both consumers and businesses."

The tablet market declined around 9% year-on-year to 45.6 million units, with market leaders Samsung and Apple experiencing double-digit shipment declines as demand for the category has cooled. "The rapid growth in the tablet market has caused markets in Western Europe and North America to become highly penetrated and shipment volumes have started to decline. Growth in these markets now relies on consumer replacements or increasing business purchases, neither of which looks likely to pick up significantly in the coming quarters", said Coulling. "We are continuing to see the tablet market slowing down in less penetrated markets, where large smart phones are now replacing tablets and other devices for accessing the internet. Smart phones with screen sizes larger than 5.5-inches made up 31% of shipments in China. As this segment grows, tablets under 8-inches are declining and make up just 41% of the Chinese tablet market this quarter compared to 66% a year ago."

Canalys further finds "Hybrid and convertible shipments doubled year-over-year in Q1 2015, reaching 3.0 million units. Asus headed the market with 28% market share, followed by Lenovo and Acer with 19%. The market for two-in-one devices is expected to continue to grow during 2015 as consumers become accustomed to new form factors. In addition, Windows 10 will provide a better user experience when switching between tablet and notebook modes on these devices."

Author: Srinivasa Reddy N
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