The prospects for personal computers became significantly dimmer during last quarter, as global shipments saw one of their steepest slides in modern history. According to the International Date Corporation (IDC), PC shipments slumped 8.3 percent in the April-June period compared to the same period last year. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year drops.
Regional markets were affected differently, with the Asia-Pacific region leading the sag in PC shipments. This area, led by China and India, posted a 14 percent decrease in shipments. Europe and Middle East also recorded similarly-large declines of 12.7 percent respectively. In the U.S., shipments managed to remain fairly buoyant, shrinking a modest 2.3 percent.
The news was particularly disconcerting for Apple, known traditionally as one of the biggest players in the PC game. The Cupertino titan experienced a steeper plunge in its worldwide PC shipments than the market generally. The report found that Apple’s shipments-which include both laptops and desktops-were down 11.8 percent compared to the year prior.
Apple’s downward trend was in spite of a price slashing strategy the company employed, which brought the average cost of its PCs very close to the industry norm. Nonetheless, Apple’s low-cost portables couldn’t seem to prevent its computers from being among the most hard hit by the global PC slump.
One driving force behind the clear departure from the PC was revealed in a concurrent report from IDC, which found that tablet shipments in the same quarter had jumped 28 percent compared to a year ago. This marked the sixth consecutive quarter of growth in tablet shipments, and evidence of consumers shifting away from the traditional computer to these more compact and typically cheaper windows-to-web devices.
The data makes it evident that the global PC slump is far from over. With no clear path or strategy out of it becoming clearer, market analysts are already looking ahead to the next quarter with a sense of hesitation. Until then, the fate of the PC industry remains in the balance.
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