Gartner’s Preliminary Results Shows Lowest PC Shipment Number Since 2007

    Author Grace ChangPosted on Categories Computer Hardware, TechTags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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    It looks like the PC industry is about to hit rock bottom: several tech companies have just released their second quarter reports and shipment numbers were the lowest they’d been since 2007, according to preliminary results analyst firm Gartner (NYSE:$IT).

    The decline in this quarter — the second quarter of 2017 — marks the 11th straight quarter of decreasing PC shipments. Globally,  PC shipments went down by 4.3% in this quarter when compared to the second quarter of 2016. In the U.S. in particular, PC shipments dropped by 5.7% this quarter when compared to 2016’s second quarter.

    Gartner cites the main reason for the drop in global PC shipments to be the rise in manufacturing costs due to shortages of important parts like memory and LCD screens. Although some companies absorbed the higher costs, others made their PC prices higher to make up for the higher manufacturing costs. As a result, PC demand lowered overall.

    In the U.S., on the other hand, Gartner believes the drop in PC shipments was largely caused by weak demand — particularly demand from the education sector. But it should be noted that the poor PC demand from the education sector is because most customers are now using Google’s Chromebooks, which Gartner didn’t include in its PC shipment numbers as the firm believes that the product doesn’t really target the same audience of consumers as traditional PCs. Gartner did take the time to address Chromebook growth, though, citing a 38% growth in global shipments between 2015 and 2016.

    Looking at individual tech companies, Asus (PE:$2357) was hit hardest in the U.S. with a drastic 40.7% decline this quarter when compared to 2016’s second quarter reports. Even tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:$AAPL) saw a shipment decline of 9.6% when compared to 2016’s second quarter for its popular Macbooks.

    However, not all companies saw a decline — in fact, HP (NYSE:$HPQ) experienced a 6.5% rise in comparison to 2016’s second quarter in its PC shipments in the U.S. Globally, HP’s PC shipments saw a 3.3% rise using the same comparison. The increase in shipments this quarter finally allowed HP to take the lead in PC sales after experiencing rises in PC shipments for the last five straight quarters.

    Featured Image: depositphotos/Stas_K

    Author Grace Chang
    About the author: Grace is currently studying at UBC to achieve her BA in Computer Science. She is due to graduate in 2020. As a content creator, Grace has written financial analysis, stock market news, and informational investing articles. She also worked as an editor with her university publication 'UBC Undergraduate Journal of Art History'.