PC Market | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Sat, 12 Sep 2015 04:22:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png PC Market | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Intel, Citigroup: Demand for PCs is stabilizing https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/anton-shilov/intel-citigroup-demand-for-pcs-is-stabilizing/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/anton-shilov/intel-citigroup-demand-for-pcs-is-stabilizing/#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2015 00:33:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=267522 Sales of personal computers have been on the decline for several quarters now and the first half of 2015 was particularly bad for the PC supply chain. However, according to Intel Corp. and analysts from Citigroup, the demand for PCs has bottomed and is now stabilizing. Moreover, Intel’s new “Skylake” processors can actually help shipments …

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Sales of personal computers have been on the decline for several quarters now and the first half of 2015 was particularly bad for the PC supply chain. However, according to Intel Corp. and analysts from Citigroup, the demand for PCs has bottomed and is now stabilizing. Moreover, Intel’s new “Skylake” processors can actually help shipments of PCs to rebound.

Speaking at Citigroup’s global technology conference earlier this week, Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s client computing group, indicated that demand for PCs had bottomed and computer makers had started to started to replenish inventory with the company’s new products, including central processing units based on the latest “Skylake” micro-architecture.

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Virtually all Taiwanese companies supplying personal computers or PC hardware reported revenue upticks in August, which is in line with expectations. More importantly, shipments of notebooks increased more significantly than analysts had expected.

“We continue to observe signs of PC demand stabilization from across the PC supply chain,” wrote Christopher Danely, an analyst with Citigroup, in a note for clients, reports Tech Trader Daily. “Taiwan notebook ODM shipments increased 16 per cent month-on-month in August, above our Citi Asia hardware analyst William Yang’s estimate of up 10 per cent month-on-month and above the three year average of up 6 per cent month-over-month.”

The analyst also noted that spot prices of dynamic random access memory stabilized in the recent weeks, which is a sign of a bottom in the PC market.

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It is noteworthy that Intel now pins a lot of hopes on sales of 2-in-1 hybrid devices, which are gaining popularity in North America and which shipments in the region were up 50 per cent year-over-year in the recent months. According to the chip giant, 2-in-1s have already helped the notebook market to grow slightly in late 2014 and early 2015. Intel claims that such hybrid PCs are driving sales of mobile computers in general because of very short refresh cycles: between eight and twelve months.

“What we are seeing is – [2-in-1s] is our second fastest growing category in mobile after phablets – eight to twelve months refresh [cycle] with this class of devices,” said Mr. Skaugen. “If it took X number of years to buy a PC, people are buying these out of want versus need. They are actually coming into the store earlier not because their screen got broken or their hard drive is bad, but because they want to buy a device like this.”

Intel expects over 80 hybrid PC designs based on the code-named “Skylake” chips to arrive. Intel also projects that 2-in-1 hybrids will get popular in the business PC segment.

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KitGuru Says: If Intel and Citigroup are correct and the is no excessive previous-generation inventory in the in the supply chain, then purchases of “Skylake” chips as well as release of PCs on their base could help the market to rebound. However, if PC makers are getting new products because they think they can sell them, then it is completely unclear what is going to happen next if actual sales are below their expectations. In fact, two fundamental factors that affect demand for PCs by end-users and the channel – decline of major currencies relative to the U.S. dollar and free Windows 10 upgrades – are still there.

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Acer: We will not quit the PC market https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/anton-shilov/%ef%bb%bfacer-we-will-not-quit-the-pc-market/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/anton-shilov/%ef%bb%bfacer-we-will-not-quit-the-pc-market/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2015 02:29:26 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=247181 Acer Group used to be one of the world’s top PC makers half a decade ago, but in the recent years the company’s market share dropped rather dramatically. Acer announced major reorganization efforts in 2013 and while all of them yet have to prove their viability, the company is confident that it would not quit …

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Acer Group used to be one of the world’s top PC makers half a decade ago, but in the recent years the company’s market share dropped rather dramatically. Acer announced major reorganization efforts in 2013 and while all of them yet have to prove their viability, the company is confident that it would not quit PC market.

“Acer will compete [on the PC market] to the last through the continued improvement of our product lines to maintain competitiveness,” said Jason Chen, chief executive officer of Acer, reports DigiTimes.

In a bid to improve its sales this year, the company recently introduced a lineup of new hybrid 2-in-1 personal computers, gaming PCs as well as Chromebooks. Acer also plans to establish stronger positions on the market of smartphones.

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Acer commanded 7.2 per cent of the global PC market in the first quarter of 2015, according to Gartner. The company sold 5.183 million PCs, a decrease of 6.8 per cent year-over-year.

Despite of continuous declines, Acer does not plan to quit the market of PCs or refocus its business completely.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It is nice to see that Acer does not plan to follow Sony, Toshiba, Samsung and a number of other personal computer suppliers, who either ceased to make PCs, withdrew from certain markets or sold off their PC business units in the recent years.

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Weaker PC makers may have to leave the market, analysts claim https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/anton-shilov/weaker-pc-makers-may-have-to-leave-the-market-analysts-claim/ https://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/anton-shilov/weaker-pc-makers-may-have-to-leave-the-market-analysts-claim/#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2014 19:39:36 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=215587 Global PC shipments will decline by several percent points this year, but will still total over 303 million units, according to Gartner. Therefore, many PC makers will enjoy great sales of personal computers this year and going forward. Unfortunately, profit margins of loads of smaller PC makers will decline so significantly that they will be …

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Global PC shipments will decline by several percent points this year, but will still total over 303 million units, according to Gartner. Therefore, many PC makers will enjoy great sales of personal computers this year and going forward. Unfortunately, profit margins of loads of smaller PC makers will decline so significantly that they will be forced to either leave the market, or significantly reorganize.

This week Hewlett-Packard decided to split into two companies: one will sell PCs and printers, another will deal with enterprise storage, servers and other products. Earlier this year Sony Corp. sold off its PC business, Samsung exited European PC market and Toshiba announced plans to focus on commercial PCs. All these companies made their decisions because they were unable to earn significant profits on the market of PCs. It looks like more PC makers will follow them with radical decisions, market analysts say.

“Acer and Asus are having immense challenges to the point at which the industry is challenging their viability,” said Pat Moorhead of Moor Insights, reports PC World. “Neither Acer or Asus have a broad commercial PC line, aren’t the low-cost leader, nor are they the brand leaders. It is a very challenging position to be in.”

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According to Mr. Moorhead, Dell and Lenovo are in good position nowadays since they have strong presence on the market, especially corporate PC market, which guarantees them not only sales, but sufficient profitability.

Bob O’Donnell of Technalysis Research believes that Acer and Asustek Computer will have to eventually merge their PC businesses, creating a stronger player on the market of personal computers. By contrast, Samsung is expected to completely withdraw from the market of PCs in favour of tablets. Many local PC makers with insignificant market share will also likely to exit the market of personal computers eventually.

Acer, Asus, Samsung, Toshiba and others did not comment on the news-story.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see what happens to the market of PCs in ten years’ time. The number of PC makers has greatly shrunk since 2004 because of various reasons. Will this number drop to, say, five large global suppliers of PCs by 2024? We do not know for sure, but what we do know is that, for example, on the market of cars there are still tens of suppliers. Yet, there are large conglomerates who own multiple brands as well as ultra-large automakers with a limited amount of brands. Perhaps, something similar eventually is going to happen to the market of PC.

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