According to Q1 data.
Global PC shipments have declined for the 14th consecutive quarter, totaling 61.7 million units in the first quarter of 2018, a 1.4% drop from the previous corresponding period, according to preliminary results from Gartner.
Asia Pacific and the US experienced declining shipments, while other regions saw some minimal growth, but it was not enough to drive overall growth for the PC industry. In the first quarter of 2018, PC shipments in Asia Pacific declined 3.9% compared with the same period last year, while shipments in the US decreased 2.9%.
Gartner principal analyst, Mikako Kitagawa said, “The major contributor to the decline came from China, where unit shipments declined 5.7% year over year. This was driven by China’s business market, where some state-owned and large enterprises postponed new purchases or upgrades, awaiting new policies and officials’ reassignments after the session of the National People’s Congress in early March.
“In the first quarter of 2018, there was some inventory carryover from the fourth quarter of 2017. At the same time, vendors were cautious in overstocking due to the upcoming release of new models in the second quarter of 2018 with Intel’s new eighth-generation core processors.”
The top three vendors — HP, Lenovo and Dell — accounted for 56.9% of global PC shipments in the first quarter of 2018. Dell experienced the strongest growth rate worldwide, as its shipments increased 6.5%. HP worldwide PC shipments increased 2.8% in the first quarter of 2018, while Lenovo global PC shipments remained flat.
Despite the decline in shipments, the average selling prices (ASPs) of PCs continue to rise. Acknowledging deceleration in the smartphone market, and uncertainty in PC replacement demand, component companies remain cautious about expanding their production capabilities. Therefore, persistent component shortages and a rising bill of materials continue to create an environment conductive to higher prices.