Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 5.7 Percent in 3Q16
I am often reminded of a dicussion I had with a fellow review site owner over the future of the PC. This was during a discussion about "sweet spots" and how there was computer hardware you needed vs computer hardware that was excessively fast. I told him that I felt it was the high-end hardware that would keep mfgs afloat and of course he disagreed.
Thing is that was 5 years ago during the start of the "PC sales are declining" scare that started to kill off review sites and what have we learned since then?
Yep, high-end hardware is keeping mfgs alive and the reason for this is simple. We have 3 types of computer users.
First are your mainstream users, these people use a computer because they have to and could care less what is inside so long as it works. When the computer gets old or infected with something they also take it to Best Buy and get scammed into buying a new one or will give up on the PC and use a tablet or their phone.
The second group is working professionals. These people are developers, designers, builders, programmers, etc. and have to use a computer on a daily basis to get their work done. They know what they have, know what they need and know how to get it. eg they buy what they need and use it until it until the warranty expires and starts the process again.
The final group is the enthusiasts. These people are no different from anyone else they may be mainstream users, gamers, hackers or working professionals. The difference is they know what they want and instead of buying a whole new machine they are on a continual upgrade path and will buy what they want.
All three groups are hurting the PC market. The first group is the reason why there are no new PC sales because they have given up. Ultimately we don't care so much because they would only buy the cheapest thing at the store anyway. The second group is really who we are measuring with the Gartner data and given that they are buying high-end machines they tend to last longer and don't need to be replaced as often. Plus, let’s face it, you can game, program and even hack on 5 year old hardware.
Our final group doesn't fall into this discussion however, is the group that hardware makers are targeting. These people build their own PCs and are the only ones contributing to the “Make the PC great again” movement. Sadly they are not represented as a sales number and given that hardware makers rarely supply boards to OEM suppliers you cannot measure their impact.
PC manufacturers faced many challenges, which included weak back-to-school demand, and ongoing low demand in the consumer market, especially in emerging markets.
"There are two fundamental issues that have impacted PC market results: the extension of the lifetime of the PC caused by the excess of consumer devices, and weak PC consumer demand in emerging markets," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "According to our 2016 personal technology survey, the majority of consumers own, and use, at least three different types of devices in mature markets. Among these devices, the PC is not a high priority device for the majority of consumers, so they do not feel the need to upgrade their PCs as often as they used to. Some may never decide to upgrade to a PC again.
Eventually the declining sales will level off which will cause some of the major hardware makers to slowly die off. I’m still not sure how this will turn around and with Microsoft pushing operating systems designed for tablets and Apple pushing their own tablets they too are contributing to the problem.
Maybe the PC is dead however there will always be a need for a workstation in the professional space. The question is, how big will this workstation be?
Related Web URL: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3474218
