IDC Says PC Shipments To Fall By 10.1% In 2013

Research firm IDC has announced that it expects to see PC shipments decline by double digits in 2013. The exact percentage of decline that IDC is predicting for the PC market overall is 10.1%. That is a bit more than the firms previous prediction of 9.7% decline for the PC market overall.

IDC notes that this is the biggest yearly decline on record. The company also says that interest in PCs is remaining low leaving little indication for positive growth outside of those that have to replace existing systems.

IDC predicts that in 2014 the PC market will see and overall decline of -3.8% before becoming slightly positive in the longer term. The prediction is that total PC shipments will remain just above 300 million units annually. That is only slightly more units than shipped in 2008.

IDC does note that the commercial market is doing better than the consumer maker. The commercial market will decline by about 5% year over year compared to a 15% decline for the consumer market. More and more consumers are replacing notebook and desktop PCs with tablets and smartphones. The reason the commercial market is doing better is in part thanks to business moving away from Windows XP. The long term outlook for the commercial business isn't expected to be significantly different than the consumer outlook.

SOURCE: IDC