Consumers in their millions are continuing the mass exodus away from desktop and laptop PCs – flocking toward the tablet and Smartphone markets in record numbers. A remarkable turn of events for market leaders including Apple and Google, though one that is having a seriously detrimental effect on others.
The damage is of course being felt most painfully of all by the world’s leading PC manufacturers – most of whom have reported ongoing contractions in the market throughout the second quarter. While Asus, Acer and Lenovo expressed concerns, Dell and Hewlett-Packard appear to have taken the brunt of the impact after reporting two-figure percentage reductions in overall PC shipments.
Component Orders Down
It is not just the manufacturers themselves that are feeling the pinch of the tablet PC revolution, as component makers such as AMD have also reported annual shipment reductions of almost 10%. While Intel continues its efforts to break away from near-exclusive chip supply or standard PCs, the company is also likely to have been impacted by current consumer trends.
PCs are still selling in enormous numbers the world over, with second quarter estimates for this year currently as just over 87.5 million machines. However, this is expected to continue contracting over the months and years to come, leading to difficult times for the PC industry as a whole.
Interest Waning
Industry experts and analysts expect that over the coming years, consumers in record numbers will lose all interest in standard PCs, favoring the high-end tablets and Smartphones that are becoming more and more affordable by the day. Even as the industry gears up for the launch of Windows 8 later this fall, market experts do not expect to see anything close to the boom needed to re-tip the balance back in favor of PC makers.
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