Global shipments of traditional PCs (desktop, notebook, and workstation) totalled 70.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017 (4Q17), recording slightly positive (0.7%) year-on-year growth.
This is according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. The report found 2017 ended with an annual shipment volume of 259.5 million units, which represents a year-over-year decline of 0.2%. This makes 2017 the most stable year the market has seen since 2011, notes IDC.
The results outperformed the previous forecast of a 1.7% decline in shipments during the quarter.
"The 4Q17 results further validate the view of a steadying, albeit still weak, traditional PC market, buoyed mainly by commercial upgrades and pockets of improving consumer PC demand. 2017 ended with an annual shipment volume of 259.5 million units, which represents a year-over-year decline of 0.2%. This makes 2017 the most stable year the market has seen since 2011," according to the report.
Although the situation improved as 2017 progressed, the shortage of key components such as solid state drives acted as a major driver of shipments for much of 2017, with top PC companies vying to lock up supply ahead of price increases and thus boosting orders.
"The fourth quarter results showed some potentially encouraging headway against the difficult environment in retail and consumer PCs," says Jay Chou, research manager with IDC's Personal Computing Device Tracker.
"Enticed by a growing array of products that promise all-day battery life, high portability, and address emerging use cases that require more compute power, pockets of the consumer base are taking a serious look at these revamped PCs. However, the overall PC market remains a challenging one."
In response to the contracting tablet market, companies also returned their focus to the notebook market, shifting the product mix to appeal to key user segments and expanding the number of slim, convertible, and gaming systems, notes the report.
"The solid holiday consumer sales provided enough momentum for the PC market to stabilise a bit further," says Neha Mahajan, senior research analyst, Devices & Displays. "However, the growing popularity of other mobile form factors continued to have a dampening effect and led the overall US PC market to perform below expectations."
From a geographic perspective, the emerging regions were helped by a more favourable comparison against the tough market conditions in 2016, with Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) and Latin America both producing positive fourth quarter results. The US remained a challenging market while Europe, the Middle East and Africa was stable and Japan continued to make steady gains with its sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year, adds IDC.
Research firm Gartner predicts the device shipment market decline is slower than in recent years and will return to growth in 2018 with a 1.6% increase in shipments.
"Overall, the shipment growth of the device market is steady for the first time in many years," says Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "PC shipments are slightly lower, while smartphone shipments are slightly higher - leading to a slight downward revision in shipments from the previous forecast."
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