GEC NEWS WIREWorldwide Device Shipments to Grow 1.5 %, down from last quarter’s forecast of 2.8%
Worldwide combined shipments of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) are expected to reach 2.5 billion units in 2015, a 1.5 percent increase from 2014 and down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 2.8 percent growth, according to Gartner.
End-user spending on devices will total $606billion in 2015 and will show, for the first time since 2010, a 5.7 percent decline in current U.S. dollars.
“Our forecast for unit shipment growth for all devices in 2015 has dropped by 1.3 percentage points from last quarter’s estimate,”saidRanjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. “This was partly due to a continued slowdown in PC purchases in Western Europe, Russia and Japan in particular, largely due to price increases resulting from local currency devaluation against the dollar.”
The only market that continues to show growth is the mobile phone market where, in contrast, prices continue to fall.The emerging markets are driving the smartphone market upward, with China leading the way.
The end of the migration from Windows XP negativelyaffected the PC market globally during the first half of 2015; however, the greater impact remains the currency depreciation against the dollar. PC vendors are increasingly reducing their inventory levels—by at least 5 percent until the end of 2015—as a way to minimize pricing exposure in the channel.
“Vendors looking to grow their performance in the global smartphone market will be challenged to quickly enhance their expansion into emerging markets outside of China, where we still witness a sizeable share of feature phones and an opportunity for double-digit smartphone growth,” concluded Ms. Zimmermann.
