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US dollar kills PCs

by on09 October 2015


Sales continue to fall


Beancounters at Gartner say that the rising US dollar is helping to kill off PC sales.

For the third quarter of 2015 Gartner says worldwide PC shipments have fallen 7.7 percent to 73.7 million, attributing the purchase lull in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and Latin America to the sharp appreciation of the US dollar.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner said:

"The global PC market has experienced price increases of around 10 percent throughout the year, due to the sharp appreciation of the US dollar against local currencies."

Kitagawa added that Asia Pacific and the US were more stable.

Despite the launch of Windows 10 in the third quarter, Gartner found that desktop PCs continued to show weakness with a "high-single-digit decline", while the segment that combines notebook PCs and premium ultramobiles -- such as the MacBook Air and Microsoft Surface Pro -- recorded a "low-single-digit decline".

Hopes Windows 10 might save the PC's bacon were also unfounded. Windows 10 had a minimal impact on shipments in the quarter.

"The focus of the Windows launch in the quarter was to upgrade to Windows 10 on existing PCs, rather than ship on new PCs; the Windows 10 rollout will ramp up in 4Q15 holiday sales."

Kitagawa said PC manufacturers waiting for the Windows 10 purchasing to begin, should adjust configurations for 2016 without the impact of price hikes seen in 2015, which will lead into more stable market conditions in the upcoming year.

"Soft recovery is expected to start in 4Q15, as Windows 10 product refreshes start to appear," she said.

Last modified on 09 October 2015
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