Global PC Sales Go From Bad to Worse

PC sales have declined at a faster rate than expected throughout the world, according to a new Gartner report.

As smartphone and tablet sales skyrocket, global PC sales are sliding at high speed.

In the first quarter of 2013, PC sales dropped 11.2% globally, with declines seen across all regions, according to a report from Gartner. Demand for tablets and smartphones along with potential pause ahead of the launch of Intel’s next-generation Haswell chip notebooks could be reasons for the softer demand trends, RBC Capital Markets noted.

HP saw the deepest drop with units coming down 23% year on year. RBC Capital Markets revised its estimate of the decline in 2013 PC units shipped from 3 percent to 6-7 percent.

Gartner estimates that 79.2million PC units were shipped in the first quarter of 2013, down 11% year on year and 11% compared to the previous quarter. The latest data represents the fourth consecutive quarter of year on year declines led by soft demand in Europe, as it appears the launch of Windows 8 has had limited impact on PC demand, RBC Capital Markets said.

In the U.S., shipments fell 9.6% year on year and Asia-Pacific saw a 10.3% unit decline in the first quarter of this year. Notably, Asia-Pacific’s decline is the most severe since Gartner began tracking shipments in the region in 1994. Further, both China and India experienced steep year on year declines in the first quarter.

Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio