Year’s PC Shipments Declining

Research firm IDC said on Friday that the year’s PC shipments wouldn’t meet expectations.

According to the IDC March Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report, PC shipments in 2005 will grow by 9.7 percent, and the market won’t see the 10.1 percent growth that had been previously forecast.

The new 2005 forecast marks a sharp decline in PC shipment percentage growth from 2004, which was reported by IDC at 15 percent. In 2003, shipments grew by 12 percent. The declining trend is expected to continue into 2006, when the current IDC forecast places worldwide PC shipment percentage growth at 8.6 percent.

In terms of actual units shipped, 195.4 million units are now expected to go out worldwide in 2005, up from 178.1 million units in 2004 and 154.8 million units in 2003. In 2006, 212.2 million PCs expected to be shipped worldwide, with shipments reaching 273 million by 2009, representing sales of $245 billion.

The U.S. growth in PC shipments for 2005 is now expected to be 7.6 percent, which will mark the third straight year of percentage growth decline. In 2004 the number was 10.6 percent; in 2003, 10.8 percent. The current IDC forecast for 2006, however, predicts that growth will improve to 8.0 percent.

“Despite fears of slowing growth, particularly in the U.S. consumer segment, the PC market was fairly robust in the fourth quarter of 2004, with strong demand in the consumer and business segments,” said Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, in a statement. “While overall growth in 2005 will be slower than 2004, we expect to see continued strength in portables and in emerging markets. Although worldwide growth will slip into single digits this year, long-term drivers such as mobile adoption, replacement of older systems, and growing penetration will support healthy growth through the end of the decade.