Framingham (MA) – The global PC market returned to double-digit growth in the first quarter of this year, fueled by an increasingly popular notebook segment. Desktop computers struggle to offer a compelling value proposition for consumers and are confronted with declining shipment numbers.
Worldwide PC shipments jumped by 10.9% to 58.9 million units in Q1, according to estimates released by IDC today. Growth was ahead of the previous three quarters and beat previous estimates, which expected unit numbers to climb by about 8.5%. IDC attributed the additional growth to the availability of Windows Vista, which “probably moved some volume from Q4 06 to Q1 07,” as well as to improved notebook shipments.
"The strong first quarter is a good indicator of the health of the industry," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "The United States and Japan didn't grow much in the first quarter, but solid gains elsewhere and a boost from Vista brought us back to double-digit growth.”
IDC estimates that the U.S. PC market grew by only 3.6% year-over-year. According to David Daoud, an analyst with IDC, the negative growth of the desktop market continues to accelerate, with the U.S. shipment decline believed to come in between 6% and 8%. Daoud told TG Daily that year-over-year desktop shipments began to decline in the fourth quarter of 2005, with low single digit decreases until the fourth quarter of 2006. In Q4 2006, the decline peaked at 10.9%.
In contrast, the notebook segment continues to show strength. IDC said that U.S. notebook sales may have grown up to 20% in Q1 year-over-year, which compares to an average growth of 16% for the quarters of the 2006 calendar year.
According to Daoud, the market shift towards notebooks is accelerating as desktop computers are failing to appeal to consumers. While the segment is still growing in emerging markets where low prices are key to success, desktop computers do not represent enough value to consumers in saturated markets such as the U.S. Daoud believes that growth is still possible, but will require products that answer changed “usage models” – such as “true” media center PCs that are easy to use.
On a vendor basis, HP is now the world’s largest PC supplier with a shipment growth of 28.2% that increased the firm’s global market share to 19.1% in Q1. Dell continued to struggle, saw its shipment decline by 6.9% and its market contract to 15.2%. Lenovo rounds out the top 3 with that grew by 0.3 percentage points to 6.7% year-over-year.
In the U.S., Dell still leads the market with a market share of 26.8%, down from 32.4% in Q1 last year. HP saw its market share climb in the same time frame from 20.0% to 24.2%. Gateway maintained position 3 with a market share that decreased from 8.0% to 7.2%.
Worldwide PC shipments jumped by 10.9% to 58.9 million units in Q1, according to estimates released by IDC today. Growth was ahead of the previous three quarters and beat previous estimates, which expected unit numbers to climb by about 8.5%. IDC attributed the additional growth to the availability of Windows Vista, which “probably moved some volume from Q4 06 to Q1 07,” as well as to improved notebook shipments.
"The strong first quarter is a good indicator of the health of the industry," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "The United States and Japan didn't grow much in the first quarter, but solid gains elsewhere and a boost from Vista brought us back to double-digit growth.”
IDC estimates that the U.S. PC market grew by only 3.6% year-over-year. According to David Daoud, an analyst with IDC, the negative growth of the desktop market continues to accelerate, with the U.S. shipment decline believed to come in between 6% and 8%. Daoud told TG Daily that year-over-year desktop shipments began to decline in the fourth quarter of 2005, with low single digit decreases until the fourth quarter of 2006. In Q4 2006, the decline peaked at 10.9%.
In contrast, the notebook segment continues to show strength. IDC said that U.S. notebook sales may have grown up to 20% in Q1 year-over-year, which compares to an average growth of 16% for the quarters of the 2006 calendar year.
According to Daoud, the market shift towards notebooks is accelerating as desktop computers are failing to appeal to consumers. While the segment is still growing in emerging markets where low prices are key to success, desktop computers do not represent enough value to consumers in saturated markets such as the U.S. Daoud believes that growth is still possible, but will require products that answer changed “usage models” – such as “true” media center PCs that are easy to use.
On a vendor basis, HP is now the world’s largest PC supplier with a shipment growth of 28.2% that increased the firm’s global market share to 19.1% in Q1. Dell continued to struggle, saw its shipment decline by 6.9% and its market contract to 15.2%. Lenovo rounds out the top 3 with that grew by 0.3 percentage points to 6.7% year-over-year.
In the U.S., Dell still leads the market with a market share of 26.8%, down from 32.4% in Q1 last year. HP saw its market share climb in the same time frame from 20.0% to 24.2%. Gateway maintained position 3 with a market share that decreased from 8.0% to 7.2%.