By now you surely know the drill-- Gartner and IDC report EMEA Q3 2013 PC shipments are in decline as consumer demand contracts, budgets shift to tablets and economies remain weak.
According to Gartner Q3 2013 EMEA shipments total 22.4 million with a -13.7% Y-o-Y drop (or -8.2% Q-o-Q), making the period the 6th consecutive quarter of shipment declines.
"During Q3 2013 many vendors went through product transitions to Intel Haswell and Bay Trail processors, while preparing for the October launch of Windows 8.1. These product transitions and the clearing of old inventory that is taking place through Q3 and Q4 2013, have played a part in the slowdown of the PC market in EMEA," Gartner says. "Many PC vendors also introduced Android tablets as a main part of their portfolios and this initiative drove PC sales downward."
All EMEA territories see slowdown in PC demand, with E. European demand falling due to weak Russian Ruble while MEA (particularly the M. East) grows increasingly partial to tablets.
Moving on to the Gartner vendor rankings, HP remains on top if with a comparatively slight -2.1% drop on shipments reaching 4.4m units. Lenovo continues being the only vendor seeing growth (18.6%) as it climbs to 2nd place, while consumer-focused Acer and Asus feel double-digit declines (-30.3% and -18.7% respectively) as they shift focus from PCs to tablets and hybrid devices.
IDC fails to give actual EMEA numbers, but comments Y-o-Y comparisons with Q3 2012 are particularly unfavourable due to shipments supported by preparations for the Windows 8 launch at the time. Lean inventory remains top priority for channel partners, while the commercial segment sees "pockets" of investment and seasonal back-to-school projects.
On a global scale both analyst continue painting a picture of PC industry woe-- Gartner says WW Q3 2013 shipments total 80.3m units with an -8.6% Y-o-Y decline, and IDC reports on shipments reaching 81.6m units with a -7.6% Y-o-Y contraction (an improvement of earlier analyst projections of -9.5% declines).
"The third quarter is often referred to as the 'back-to-school' quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008," Gartner remarks. "Consumers' shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets. A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets."
Meanwhile IDC points out a "slight uptick" in business volume (thanks to replacements of Windows XP PCs), together with growth in channel intake of Windows 8.1-based systems.
Go Gartner Says WW PC Q3 2013 Shipments Declined 8.6%
Go PC Market Beats Expectations With Mild Improvement in Business Outlook According to IDC
