While you might have expected that world-wide PC sales would have been boosted by the recent introduction of new Intel processors, or even with the raise of popularity of Ultrabooks, they didn't. Both IDC and Gartner report that there has been a slight decrease of world-wide PC sales. And it wasn't just PC's, also Apple saw a decrease in sales and IDC reports Apple also lost market share.
Especially Dell and HP suffered from this as they both sold almost 12% less PCs in 2012 compared to 2011. Lenovo (+14.9%) and Asus (+38.6%) did see a significant growth in units shipped, but the overall amount of PCs shipped in the second quarter of 2012 was less than in the second quarter of 2011.
Mikako Kitagawa, analyst at Gartner explains: "consumers are less interested in spending on PCs as there are other technology product and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets that they are purchasing". She goes on to add, "this is more of a trend in the mature market as PCs are highly saturated in these markets".
Besides consumers spending less on PCs both IDC and Gartner believe that many consumers are waiting for the release of Windows 8. The release of Microsofts latest OS is planned in October and should boost the sales of PCs in Q4 2012/ Q1 2013.
According IDC's analytist Jay Chou the announcement was important for PC vendors, "The announcement of a Windows 8 launch date, as well as broader communication of new features in the OS, are key steps that would help to address uncertainty about new product availability and help consumers and channels plan their purchases".
Windows 8 with the Metro GUI should also boost sales of Ultrabooks with touchscreens and the ARM (tablet) version of Windows 8 (RT), should also strengthen the sales of tablet.
