PC sales slump for sixth consecutive quarter

[SAN FRANCISCO] Sales of personal computers slid for the sixth consecutive quarter at the start of 2016, falling to levels not seen since 2007, a market tracker said on Monday.

A survey by research firm Gartner shows a 9.6 per cent drop in PC sales in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, to 64.7 million units.

New households are not adopting PCs like they used to, especially in emerging markets, where smartphones are often preferred for online access, Gartner analysts said.

However, the analysts said they expect to see some rebound in PC sales later this year as part of a "Windows 10 refresh" movement.

Other factors affecting PC sales included the strong dollar, making purchases more expensive in some markets, and political instability in some regions.

"The deterioration of local currencies against the US collar continued to play a major role in PC shipment declines," Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said.

"All major regions showed year-on-year shipment declines, with Latin America showing the steepest drop, where PC shipments declined 32.4 per cent," she added.

"The Latin America PC market was intensely impacted by Brazil, where the problematic economy and political instability adversely affect the market." Chinese maker Lenovo remained the top vendor with a market share of 19.3 per cent, even though its sales fell 7.2 per cent in the quarter.

US-based HP Inc. held the second spot with 17.6 per cent, followed by Dell at 14.1 per cent.

Taiwan's Asus was the number four vendor with an 8.3 per cent market share, managing to boost sales by 1.5 per cent, and Apple was fifth at 7.1 per cent after increasing sales by one percent.

AFP