IDC: Global personal computing market sees growth bump
Preliminary results for the global traditional PC market, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, totalled 64.9 million units in the second quarter of 2019 (2Q19), according to IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
Year-over-year growth during the quarter reached 4.7%, which was notably higher than expected as the easing of supply shortages combined with looming trade tensions to propel the market forward.
"Supply for Intel's processors improved markedly during the quarter, allowing most PC vendors to fulfil old orders while also shipping a healthy supply of new PCs into the channels," says IDC mobile device trackers research manager Jitesh Ubrani.
"Additionally, the threat of increased tariffs led some PC makers to ship a surplus of desktops and notebooks, thereby artificially propping up the PC market during the second quarter."
However, higher than anticipated growth was not driven solely by changes in the supply chain.
"With the January 2020 end of service (EOS) date for Windows 7 approaching, the market has entered the last leg of the Windows 7 to Windows 10 commercial migrations," says IDC devices and displays research vice president Linn Huang.
"However, the closing sprint is unlikely to generate the spike seen when Windows XP met its EOS because we are further ahead of the migration with two quarters to go. Still, organizations looking to finish their migration will create new opportunities for the market in the coming quarters."
The traditional PC market in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) beat IDC's forecast with shipments posting modest year-on-year growth. India produced better than anticipated results primarily due to earlier than expected deployments to the ELCOT education tender, which reached close to 1.1 million units.
However, other segments of this market remained soft, impacted by the recent elections, weak demand, and overstock.
In China, consumer notebook shipments recorded an increase, fueled by good sales of low-end ultraslim devices, online channel promotions, and inventory build-up.
On the other hand, China's commercial market remained weak with both the SMB and government segments impacted by the ongoing US-China trade tensions.
Company highlights
Lenovo moved into the top position, capturing 25% of the market with more than 16.2 million units shipped. The company has won some large commercial bids, such as the ELCOT project in India, which helped drive shipments. Beyond that, the fear of additional tariffs led Lenovo (along with others) to ship additional units during the quarter.
HP ranked second with 3.2% year-over-year growth. EMEA, the United States, and Japan were the company's strongest performing markets as HP experienced positive growth in each region.
Dell Technologies maintained the third position with a healthy 3.1% growth during the quarter. Desktops once again proved to be Dell's strong suit as the company managed to raise its share in the desktop market by 1 percentage point.
Acer Group was one of the few companies that saw a decline this quarter despite having shipped additional units ahead of potential tariffs. The company continues to perform well in the value segment of the market and regions such as North America and Japan remained strongholds.
Apple rounded out the top 5, shipping nearly 4.1 million units. Like other companies, Apple managed to move additional units into the channels to fend off potential tariffs. Additionally, the recent launch of new notebooks leaves the company in a position with plenty of inventory on-hand.
