Technology research group Gartner Inc. said Monday that the worldwide PC industry will experience its sharpest shipment decline in history during 2009 as the global economy continues to deteriorate.
Shipments will decline 11.9 percent to 257 million units, researcher Gartner says in a projection out today. Gartner says it will be the sharpest unit decline in history. The last “worst” year was 2001, when shipments fell 3.2 percent.
The unprecedented market slowdowns will occur across emerging and mature markets. In the former, shipments are expected to fall 10.4%, while mature markets are expected to see a 13% decline. In both markets, a slower gross domestic product, or GDP, will generally weaken sales. With people and businesses expected to postpone replacing old machines, PC makers will keep inventories at “historic lows until confidence in a recovery eventually firms,” Shiffler said.
“The PC industry is facing extraordinary conditions as the global economy continues to weaken,” said Gartner research director George Shiffler, noting that many users are deciding to put off replacing older computers.
The global decline will be due to a projected 31.9% slump in desktop shipments to 101.4 million units. Laptops and other mobile PCs are seen posting 9% growth to 155.6 million amid a near doubling for mini-notebooks, a still-small segment of the computing world at just 8% of projected 2009 computer shipments. Excluding that segment, mobile growth this year is pegged at 2.7% in 2009.
“The PC industry is facing extraordinary conditions as the global economy continues to weaken, users stretch PC lifetimes and PC suppliers grow increasingly cautious,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.
Image by spadgy under Creative Commons.
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