NEW YORK - DEMAND for personal computers is expected to slow next year amid the economic downturn with worldwide PC shipments set to grow just 3.8 per cent, market intelligence firm IDC reported on Wednesday.
IDC, updating growth projections for 2009 made in the second quarter of the year, said the value of PC shipments was expected to fall by 5.3 per cent next year.
Notebook PC weakness seen hurting chipmakers
SAN FRANCISCO - THE computer notebook segment is showing signs of serious weakening as the global economy slows and the ill effects will start to be felt by chipmakers, analysts said on Wednesday.
Notebook manufacturers, distributors and component suppliers in the US and Asia are reporting weak demand and order cancellations. Meanwhile, analysts said, the continued financial turmoil is pushing those who are buying towards low-end notebooks and netbooks, which will ultimately impact chipmakers' margins.
Those figures are considerably lower than IDC's previous projections, when it said it expected PC shipments to grow by 13.7 per cent in 2009 and increase in value by 4.5 per cent.
IDC said that it had also lowered its outlook for growth in PC sales in 2010 by a couple of percent, to 10.9 per cent, with growth above 12 per cent for 2011 and 2012.
IDC said PC shipments in the United States, which accounted for one-fourth of total PC sales in 2007, are expected to decline by nearly three percent in 2009, the first decline since 2001.
While notebook sales were expected to rise by 6.7 per cent in the United States, desktop PC and server sales were expected to decline by 12.6 per cent, IDC said.
'Low-cost mini notebooks will help volume but pressure margins and revenues,' said Mr Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.
'Consumer and commercial segments will be much more conservative in their purchases over the coming year or two, and while low prices will remain essential, they will not drive volumes as they did the past few years.'
IDC said emerging markets in Latin America, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa would be the most significantly affected in the short term.
'Western Europe has been slower to feel the credit crunch, and low cost notebooks remain a huge driver, so growth is expected to continue at six per cent, although this is well below growth of more than 20 per cent in 2008,' it said.
It said shipments in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan are expected to increase by seven per cent in 2009 and by 18 to 20 per cent in subsequent years. -- AFP
