PC market expected to drop 2.7 percent by year's end

According to the latest forecasts by market tracking firm IDC, the global market for PCDs (Personal Computer Devices) consisting of desktops, laptops, workstations, tablets, and detachables will fall by 2.7 percent YoY by the end of 2017. The outlook for 2018 is even worse as analysts are predicting a 4 percent decline YoY. By 2021, IDC is claiming that the market could contract from 423.3 million units in 2017 to 393.9 million corresponding to an annual growth rate of (CAGR) of -2.0 percent.

The steady decline can be attributed to the lack of consumer interest in traditional slate tablets. The source is predicting a notable -6.7 percent CAGR for the next five years for slate tablet shipments alone compared to -3.4 percent for desktop PCs and large workstations. In turn, laptops, mobile workstations, and tablet detachables will rise by a combined CAGR of 12.2 percent, but their smaller market shares will apparently not be enough to completely offset the falling tablet and desktop markets.

We've reported before that sales of traditional tablets have been declining QoQ for at least the past couple of years and it looks like the trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Laptops appear set to slowly displace declining desktop sales as manufacturers continue to invest in thinner, more powerful, and more versatile designs like the Lenovo Yoga series or Microsoft Surface series that blur the line between traditional notebooks and dedicated tablets.

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