Personal computer sales stop declining, but Windows XP dips, and tablets are down too

Sales figures for personal computers, with the introduction of tablets, declined from 2011, but are now stable (New York Times, July 16, 2014).

Quarter 2 sales in 2012 of personal computers were 85.4 million, which slumped to 75.6 million in Quarter 2, 2013 (representing an 11.5% decline). In the second quarter to end June 2014, the sales declined to 74.4 million, but this was only a 1.7% decline from a year ago. This is the PCs best quarter sales (April to June 2014) since 2012, mainly due to new technologies, says the article – such as 3-D printing, medical imaging, robotics, and cloud computing, which are all controlled by PCs.

Tablet sales, on the other hand, have surged since 2012. But a 2014 information technology study of North American businesses by Spiceworks found that 79% of IT professionals plan to purchase desktops and 71% plan to buy laptops, which may threaten tablet sales in the future.

The renewed interest in PCs is because smartphones and tablets “don’t do everything that needs to be done.” Productivity is grounded in the PC, says Ammiel Kamon, executive vice president at Kontera, a data marketing company in America. Also, with the end of servicing for Windows XP in April 2014, people who were looking at upgrading their operating systems opted for new computers. “As PC sales rebound, tablet shipments are in a funk.”

Research firm NPD Display Search predicts tablets will grow by 14% over the next year, but will only grow in single digits to 2017. This may be due to younger consumers using smartphones to watch videos and older consumers using laptop screens - with not much happening in the middle.

Smartphone with larger than 5.5 inch screens are eating into the tablet market, especially tablets with 7 to 7.9 inch screens which accounted for 58% of the global tablet market. Tablets don’t require replacement as often as smartphones and PCs because they are usually purchased to accompany other devices (not instead of other devices). The new ultra-mobile PC, which is emerging, may become the bridge between the traditional computer (desktop or laptop) and the tablet.

Hence it is unlikely that the PC is passe – at least not yet – as people hang onto or buy them to have larger screens and more productivity.

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