IDC: Traditional PC Market Continued to Stabilize in 3Q17

IDC: Traditional PC Market Continued to Stabilize in 3Q17
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Worldwide shipments of traditional PCs (desktop, notebook, workstation) totaled 67.2 million units in the third quarter of 2017 (3Q17), which translates into a slight year-over-year decline of 0.5%, according to preliminary results by IDC.

The results were better than projections of a 1.4% decline, and further demonstrate the trend of market stabilization in recent quarters. Improvement in emerging markets as well as back-to-school promotions helped boost results.

The component shortages of recent quarters have continued to improve and did not factor as a significant hindrance to production volumes. Nonetheless, higher component prices and inventory in some markets meant limited shipments and validated IDC assumptions about a muted third quarter. Not surprisingly, competitive pressures further cemented the dominance of the top five PC companies, which accounted for nearly 75% of the total traditional PC market.

From a geographic perspective, mature markets as well as emerging markets both struggled, with the notable exceptions of Japan and Canada, which continued to see positive growth in 3Q17, and Latin America, which rebounded after a dismal 2016 and first half of 2017.

The U.S. market experienced a fresh decline in shipments in 3Q17 with a notable drop in notebook sales. Continuing pressure from other mobile devices along with inventory management contributed to a drop in notebook shipments. Although, desktops did perform better than forecast, the category also experienced another declining quarter. Overall, total PC shipments for 3Q17 stood at 16.6 million units.

The EMEA traditional PC market continued to show clear signs of progress towards stabilization for another quarter. With customers increasingly adopting a mobility mindset, notebooks were undoubtedly the drivers for the EMEA PC market. Although desktops continued to erode, growing interest in gaming contributed towards keeping the desktop market afloat.

Market results in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) came in close to expectations. China performed slightly better than anticipated following successful efforts of inventory clearing, which allowed for higher sell-in in the consumer and SMB segments. Shipments in India were supported by market recovery after the GST reform, while the education sector benefited from roll out of the ELCOT project.

The Japan market showed stable growth in 3Q17, primarily driven by refresh projects and migration to Windows 10 as well as further notebook adoption. As a result, the year-over-year growth of the overall Japan traditional PC market will be in line with forecast.

HP retained the top spot and further lengthened its lead with nearly 23% share of the market, helped in part by major wins in Asia/Pacific. HP was the only top vendor to manage a notable shipment increase with growth of 6% on the year. Lenovo held the second position with volume holding flat at 0.1% year-over-year growth. The company continued to struggle in North America, with weak notebook sales, but also seemed to have slowed its recent decline in Asia/Pacific.

Dell remained in the third position, and grew 0.8% year over year. Dell fared well internationally, but saw declining volume in North America. Apple kept the fourth position, keeping shipments roughly flat with growth of 0.3% year over year. ASUS retained the fifth position, but was the only company in the top 5 to decline faster than the market average.

Top 5 Companies 3Q17 (Preliminary) (Shipments in thousands of units)

Company

3Q17 Shipments

3Q17 Market Share

3Q16 Shipments

3Q16 Market Share

3Q17/3Q16 Growth

1. HP

15,295

22.8%

14,427

21.4%

6.0%

2. Lenovo

14,506

21.6%

14,497

21.5%

0.1%

3. Dell

10,836

16.1%

10,751

15.9%

0.8%

4. Apple

4,901

7.3%

4,887

7.2%

0.3%

5. ASUS

4,189

6.2%

4,907

7.3%

-14.6%

Others

17,457

26.0%

18,029

26.7%

-3.2%

Total

67,185

100.0%

67,498

100.0%

-0.5%