PC Q3 global shipments beat expectations, still faltering

By Brittany Roston/Oct. 9, 2013 11:38 pm EST

The PC shipment numbers have rolled in for the third quarter of the year, tallying up the number of units shipped globally over the last quarter. Not surprisingly given the gradually declining nature of the market, shipment numbers again decreased, but not as much as analysts had expected. The numbers vary a bit depending on whose research you're looking at, but according to firm IDC, shipments hit 81.6 million units.

Given such numbers, this would represent a decrease in shipments of 7.6-percent. While unsavory for an industry that has been taking a continual hit due to the increased proliferation of smartphones and tablets, this is still higher than the 9.5-percent decline analysts had anticipated for the quarter. The "boost", if one can call it that, was due to an increase in business buys later in the quarter, as well as a channel intake of Windows 8.1.

As you can see in the graph above, Lenovo took the top position, with HP skirting in close behind and Dell holding both third position and a solid middle ground. Acer and ASUS came in the lowest positions of the top five. Year on year, the United States saw a decline of 0.2-percent, while the EMEA market took a hit, particularly in the home segment as many elected to take on tablets. Japan saw numbers higher than anticipated, while Asia Pacific, sans Japan, saw a year on year decrease of 8.8-percent.

Worldwide PC Trackers Vice President Loren Loverde said: "The third quarter was pretty close to forecast, which unfortunately doesn't reflect much improvement in the PC market, or potential for near-term growth. Whether constrained by a weak economy or being selective in their tech investments, buyers continue to evaluate options and delay PC replacements. Despite being a little ahead of forecast, and the work that's being done on new designs and integration of features like touch, the third quarter results suggest that there's still a high probability that we will see another decline in worldwide shipments in 2014."

SOURCE: IDC