Sales of PCs continued to decline in the first quarter of 2014, but the losses are leveling off. Research firms Gartner and IDC both released data this week on the state of new PC shipments during Q1 2014, reporting declines in shipments of 1.7 and 4.4 percent, respectively. By contrast, PC shipments during the first quarter of 2013 fell 13.9 percent, the largest decline ever for a single quarter.
While both firms acknowledge the continued pressure on the industry, the improved shipment figures are primarily the result of the death of support for Windows XP, which has prompted both consumers and businesses to upgrade to new hardware. Top PC manufacturers are expected to continue to reap the benefits of XP user upgrades throughout 2014, as many users have yet to complete their upgrade plans.
Several manufacturers posted strong year-over-year growth, beating the overall industry trend. Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Asus saw increases in worldwide shipments of 10.9, 4.1, 9.0, and 4.8 percent, respectively, while Dell and Lenovo were up big in the U.S. during the same period, with respective growth of 13.2 and 16.8 percent.
While uncertainty over the future of the PC industry remains, Gartner predicts that the decline in sales may have finally bottomed out thanks to a saturation in the tablet market and continued upgrades from the hundreds of millions of Windows XP users. But in an industry dominated by razor-thin margins, the economies of scale available to top manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo, will be the deciding factor in its future success.
