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United States,and Canada showed the strongest growth in PC shipments over the second quarter of the year, reflecting more stable conditions in mature markets.
Japan would have joined list but for the dramatic surge last quarter and new taxes that limited second quarter growth.
In contrast, emerging regions continue to see declining PC volumes as weaker economies and political issues combine to depress growth.
“The recent strength in mature regions is a positive sign,” said Vice President, Worldwide PC Trackers, Loren Loverde, .
“However, an important part of this strength is driven by the rebound from weaker demand last year and to potentially short-term replacement activity. We can look for some recovery in emerging regions going forward, but it may coincide with slower growth in mature regions. We do not see the recent gains as a motive to raise the long-term outlook although 2014 growth could get closer to flat, rather than the May projection of -6 percent.”
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 74.4 million units in the second quarter of 2014 (2Q14), a year-on-year decline of -1.7percent, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.
The results reflect the smallest decline in global PC shipments since the second quarter of 2012 when declining shipments of mini notebooks combined with a surge in tablet sales to disrupt the PC market.
Buoyed by both continued business PC replacements and returning consumer interest, the preliminary results for 2Q14 are markedly better than the projected decline of -7.1percent for the quarter.
Despite the end of Windows XP support in early April, it appears many Windows XP migrations continue to take place.
Most major vendors saw solid growth, and early indications also point to desktop shipments being stronger than expected in some areas, signaling continued business buying. –IDC
