Personal computer sales fall for fifth year in a row

TIL Desk/Business/San Francisco-Sales of desk and laptop computers declined last year, extending a slide started in 2012, according to figures released by two market trackers. Preliminary figures from Gartner indicated that PC shipments last year tallied 269.7 million units in a 6.2 per cent decline from the previous year. International Data Corporation pegged the number of machines shipped last year at 260 million, calculating a 5.7 per cent drop from the previous year.

“Stagnation in the (personal computer) market continued into the fourth quarter of 2016 as holiday sales were generally weak due to the fundamental change in PC buying behavior,” Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a release yesterday. “The broad PC market has been static as technology improvements have not been sufficient to drive real market growth.”

While there has been growth in sales of innovative new machines such as hybrid laptops with removable “tablet” screens, the demand was not enough to offset a drop in sales of traditional models, Gartner found. Another factor was that people are putting off replacing desk or laptop computers because they use them infrequently, opting instead to go online with smartphones, according to Kitagawa. Despite market stagnation, she saw potential the PCs in business and gaming.