Global PC sales saw a modest dip in the first quarter of this year as the pace of decline was eased by replacements of older PCs using Windows XP.
Figures released on Wednesday by Gartner Inc showed global sales were down 1.7 percent year-over-year at 76.6 million units in the first quarter.
A separate survey by IDC Corp showed a 4.4 percent drop to 73.4 million.
Analysts said the PC market is still ailing amid a shift to mobile devices such as tablets, but saw a brief respite with the replacement of machines using Windows XP, for which Microsoft Corp ended its technical support this week.
“The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments,” Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said. “All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter.”
Japan saw a stunning 35 percent year-on-year jump in PC sales, helped by the replacement of Windows XP machines and a sales tax change, the analyst said.
“While the PC market remains weak, it is showing signs of improvement compared to last year,” she said. “The PC professional market generally improved in regions such as EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa]. The US saw the gradual recovery of PC spending as the impact of tablets faded.”
Loren Loverde at IDC said that the woes of traditional PCs are not over and pointed to eight consecutive quarterly declines.
“The transition to more mobile devices and usage modes is unlikely to stop, although the short-term impact on PC shipments may slow as tablet penetration rises — as we’ve begun to see in some mature regions,” he said. “The net result remains consistent with our past forecasts — in particular, that there is potential for PC shipments to stabilize, but not much opportunity for growth.”
China’s Lenovo Group (聯想) remained the top PC vendor in both surveys, followed by US-based Hewlett-Packard Co. Gartner pegged Lenovo’s market share at 16.9 percent with shipments of 12.9 million, followed by HP’s 12.2 million and a 16 percent share.
IDC figures showed Lenovo at 17.7 percent and HP and 17.1 percent.
Dell Inc, Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) rounded out the top five sellers according to the surveys.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS