We know that despite the recent high, in recent months the PC market has not impressed sales, with more and more people opting for 2-in-1 devices, smartphones and ultrabooks.
According to estimates generated by the Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Devices Tracker, exposed in a recent IDC publication, the global sale of personal computing devices will continue to decline until 2021.
Data show that the numbers are expected to fall from 435.1 million units sold in 2016 to 398.3 million in 2021 – an annual growth rate (consisting of five years) of -1.7%. On the other hand, hybrid devices (the 2-in-1) in the same scenario are expected to grow by 14%.
Ultrathin laptops are expected to show compound annual growth rate of 11.8%, the fastest and most notable turnaround of categories. According to Ryan Reith, Vice President Programming with the Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers:
“It may be challenging to look at the global PC sales market with so many trends coming in. When you look at the tablets, the category is expected to continue to fall as attention on those devices is declining and their life cycle becoming Similar to PCs 4 or 5 years ago.
Hybrids continue to grow, but we have lowered our expectations in the short term, taking into account that OEMs are adopting a slow transition from traditional notebooks to 2-in-1.
The good news in this category is that both domestic and commercial consumers are becoming interested in Windows 10, and we’re currently at a point where 2-in-1 already accounts for more than 50% of sales in that category. Something that should continue in our forecast.”
Computer sales finally rebounded after nearly five years of consecutive drops. According to IDC, 0.6% more computers were sold in the first quarter of 2017 than in the first three months of 2016. The analyst expects a 1.8% decline.
In total, 60.3 million new PCs were marketed in the initial three months of the year, which includes Chromebooks, but does not consider tablets and Windows-detachable devices. In the inaugural quarter of 2016, a total of 59.9 million of these devices were sold.
