Increasing PC Prices Will Lead to Flat Growth of Global Shipments in 2018

Increasing PC Prices Will Lead to Flat Growth of Global Shipments in 2018
Fotolia

Worldwide shipments of devices (PCs, tablets and mobile phones) are on pace to record 0.9 percent growth to reach 2.28 billion units in 2018, according to Gartner. The PC and tablet market is estimated to decline 1.2 percent in 2018, while the mobile phone market is on pace to record an increase of 1.4 percent.

"The PC market is still hindered by the undersupply of the DRAM market for all of 2018, due to the lack of new wafer capacity coming online. As a result, PC vendors will continue to increase their prices throughout 2018," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "Larger screens and more graphic boards also mean rising costs, adding to the bill of hardware materials for businesses and household buyers.

While the PC market is price-sensitive, Gartner is witnessing business demand migrating to high-end PCs such as ultramobile premium devices, where value is seen as higher. Gartner estimates shipments of ultramobile premium units to increase by 12 percent in 2018.

Device Shipments by Device Type, 2017-2020 (Millions of Units)

Device Type

2017

2018

2019

2020

Traditional PCs

204

195

189

181

Ultramobiles (Premium)

58

65

74

80

Total PC Market

262

260

263

262

Ultramobiles (Basic and Utility)

158

155

152

151

Computing Device Market

420

415

415

413

Mobile Phones

1,841

1,867

1,888

1,901

Total Device Market

2,261

2,282

2,303

2,314

The next major shift in the PC market will be marked by the end of support for Windows 7 in January 2020. "It is becoming paramount for businesses to migrate to Windows 10 as soon as possible, and certainly by the end of 2019," said Atwal.

While the global device market is affected by macro-economic factors and technology developments, it can also be influenced by the Chinese device market alone. With nearly 1.9 billion units to be shipped in 2018, mobile phones are the main influencer of the global device market growth. In China, mobile phone sales declined 8.7 percent in 2017 to 428 million units, but are estimated to grow 3.3 percent in 2018, representing 23 percent of total mobile phone sales this year.

The traditional PC market in China is on pace to decline 1.7 percent to 38.5 million shipments in 2018, representing 21 percent of global traditional PC shipments. The drop will come despite China being business-dependent, with two-thirds of PC shipments coming from this segment.