Global PC shipments continue to fall in 2016

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SEANMCAD

news like this has often gotten gamers confused on the gaming related front because PC gaming is rising which is counter intuitive to news articles like this one

Realizer

 The articles reference data from PC sales of prebuilt PC manufacturers. More and more gamers, and young PC enthusiasts are choosing to build their own PC from sourced parts on sites like Newegg, Amazon, and others. The only thing this article shows me, is that people are starting to figure out that prebuilt computers are a waste of money. PC manufacturers are going the way of the Dinosaur the more people figure out that building their own, is cheaper, and the performance is better in the long run. 

Malabooga

You failed to copy the last part of the article:

"Of course, this isn't necessarily bad news for developers: consumer spending on PC games has actually been rising over the last several years, according to analyst reports. "

Also shows a raise in consumer awareness that local computer stores will provide same service as "branded one" for free or small fee

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

olepi

This is referring to the desktop commercial "PC". These are being replaced with laptops, tablets, and smartphones.  In many cases, the laptops have the same parts inside as a "PC", so they are really PC's too. The Xbox-One and PS4 also have the same parts inside as a PC.

SEANMCAD

blueturtle13 said:

Realizer said:

 The articles reference data from PC sales of prebuilt PC manufacturers. More and more gamers, and young PC enthusiasts are choosing to build their own PC from sourced parts on sites like Newegg, Amazon, and others. The only thing this article shows me, is that people are starting to figure out that prebuilt computers are a waste of money. PC manufacturers are going the way of the Dinosaur the more people figure out that building their own, is cheaper, and the performance is better in the long run. 

The article and the data reflects the broader market as a whole. PC gamers and PC enthusiasts are a minority in the overall sale of PCs on the market. The commercial market is also affected. 

case in point

'....there were over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008. And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, it is estimated that there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts....'

so unless we are ready to say that are over 1 billion PC gamers/.....ha!

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

laserit

My Cad computer is about 6 years old now. I'm thinking about Upgrading, not because I need to, but because I'm getting bored.

Phry

blueturtle13 said:

SEANMCAD said:

blueturtle13 said:

Realizer said:

 The articles reference data from PC sales of prebuilt PC manufacturers. More and more gamers, and young PC enthusiasts are choosing to build their own PC from sourced parts on sites like Newegg, Amazon, and others. The only thing this article shows me, is that people are starting to figure out that prebuilt computers are a waste of money. PC manufacturers are going the way of the Dinosaur the more people figure out that building their own, is cheaper, and the performance is better in the long run. 

The article and the data reflects the broader market as a whole. PC gamers and PC enthusiasts are a minority in the overall sale of PCs on the market. The commercial market is also affected. 

case in point

'....there were over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008. And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, it is estimated that there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts....'

so unless we are ready to say that are over 1 billion PC gamers/.....ha!

Most PCs in the world are found in Business Offices. Not homes.

Not sure that is actually the case.
While sales of prebuilt systems is definitely falling off, the sales of hardware is actually on the rise, after all, neither Nvidia nor Amd are complaining about their sales figures either, which indicates that a significant proportion of that hardware is actually related to the home user, not the business one, which does rely on primarily prebuilt systems, what this indicates more than anything is that businesses are not 'refreshing' their systems with newer ones, and it could be a corollary of some of the issues surrounding Win10, which from a business standpoint, may not be suitable given how it works.

Sevala

Also, there hasn't been any huge improvements in PC hardware over the last year or more. No reason to buy/build new ones at this time. People are waiting for next gen CPUs before bothering. Everything else can just be a one off upgrade usually. Its not like the periods in time when we went from 1 core to 2 core to 4 core to 6 core to 8 core CPUs in a short intervals. PC sales aren't going to pick back up until next gen hardware is readily available. 

laserit

Phry said:

blueturtle13 said:

SEANMCAD said:

blueturtle13 said:

Realizer said:

 The articles reference data from PC sales of prebuilt PC manufacturers. More and more gamers, and young PC enthusiasts are choosing to build their own PC from sourced parts on sites like Newegg, Amazon, and others. The only thing this article shows me, is that people are starting to figure out that prebuilt computers are a waste of money. PC manufacturers are going the way of the Dinosaur the more people figure out that building their own, is cheaper, and the performance is better in the long run. 

The article and the data reflects the broader market as a whole. PC gamers and PC enthusiasts are a minority in the overall sale of PCs on the market. The commercial market is also affected. 

case in point

'....there were over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008. And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, it is estimated that there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts....'

so unless we are ready to say that are over 1 billion PC gamers/.....ha!

Most PCs in the world are found in Business Offices. Not homes.

Not sure that is actually the case.
While sales of prebuilt systems is definitely falling off, the sales of hardware is actually on the rise, after all, neither Nvidia nor Amd are complaining about their sales figures either, which indicates that a significant proportion of that hardware is actually related to the home user, not the business one, which does rely on primarily prebuilt systems, what this indicates more than anything is that businesses are not 'refreshing' their systems with newer ones, and it could be a corollary of some of the issues surrounding Win10, which from a business standpoint, may not be suitable given how it works.

I don't know if that's the case. I can only speak for myself. My business has (starts counting) about 18 systems including servers. I have an IT provider who supplies all my systems which they build to my needs.

None are prebuilt. 

yaminsux

I have a pc that still run on Win NT. It's used for spreadsheets only though. I guess the is where it is then, old pc are used for smaller trivial stuff and newer ones for gaming.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Ridelynn

I'm not worried at all about "PC Sales". A lot of people just want to believe the sky is falling.

Panther2103

I feel like more and more people and companies just build their PC's as it's way cheaper as a normal consumer to buy the parts and put them together rather than having a company charge hundreds more for the same computer that you could have built. It's daunting for a lot of people but most people I know have one they built themselves or had some friend help them. Companies I didn't realize had started doing it to but based on what blueturtle and laserit said that wouldn't surprise me that they are having their IT's build them as well. I know at the last couple of places I worked, IT would order parts for the PC's we already had, I didn't know if they were pre built or not though. 

I also feel like a lot of people are upgrading a lot less often now too. Just because parts aren't becoming obsolete as fast as they used to. I've been upgrading once a year on a lot of my parts, but I haven't built a whole PC in years. If people aren't needing to buy new PC's all the time, then the sales aren't going to be crazy. I'm just glad the percentage of PC gamers is increasing, that's always nice.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Realizer

blueturtle13 said:

Realizer said:

 The articles reference data from PC sales of prebuilt PC manufacturers. More and more gamers, and young PC enthusiasts are choosing to build their own PC from sourced parts on sites like Newegg, Amazon, and others. The only thing this article shows me, is that people are starting to figure out that prebuilt computers are a waste of money. PC manufacturers are going the way of the Dinosaur the more people figure out that building their own, is cheaper, and the performance is better in the long run. 

The article and the data reflects the broader market as a whole. PC gamers and PC enthusiasts are a minority in the overall sale of PCs on the market. The commercial market is also affected. 

 The article and the Data say specifically what they are counting, and it's only counting off shelf prebuilt computers. It does not reference the massive amount of people that are simply building their own now. As I've said in other threads, my daily Job is setting up IT centers across the US/South America and part of that job is assessing costs and allocating budget toward improvement areas.

  It depends on the size of the center, and needs of the client on whether we purchase Dell, or outsource the builds to a 3rd party. Many small scale centers use custom built PCs, and the number of those centers doing so is increasing steadily. Of course with large companies we just order a few thousand Dells and get it over with. Some companies need more power for their money however. Typically, those are smaller centers doing much more than just customer service calls.

So even in the commercial industry, people are switching from prebuilt to custom. If you find an article that is counting box brand vendors, and single components, and the number is still decreasing. I'd say there might be a point there. As it stands though, we don't have the info needed based on this article alone. 

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premium. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels.

Phry

laserit said:

Phry said:

blueturtle13 said:

SEANMCAD said:

blueturtle13 said:

Realizer said:

 The articles reference data from PC sales of prebuilt PC manufacturers. More and more gamers, and young PC enthusiasts are choosing to build their own PC from sourced parts on sites like Newegg, Amazon, and others. The only thing this article shows me, is that people are starting to figure out that prebuilt computers are a waste of money. PC manufacturers are going the way of the Dinosaur the more people figure out that building their own, is cheaper, and the performance is better in the long run. 

The article and the data reflects the broader market as a whole. PC gamers and PC enthusiasts are a minority in the overall sale of PCs on the market. The commercial market is also affected. 

case in point

'....there were over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008. And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, it is estimated that there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts....'

so unless we are ready to say that are over 1 billion PC gamers/.....ha!

Most PCs in the world are found in Business Offices. Not homes.

Not sure that is actually the case.
While sales of prebuilt systems is definitely falling off, the sales of hardware is actually on the rise, after all, neither Nvidia nor Amd are complaining about their sales figures either, which indicates that a significant proportion of that hardware is actually related to the home user, not the business one, which does rely on primarily prebuilt systems, what this indicates more than anything is that businesses are not 'refreshing' their systems with newer ones, and it could be a corollary of some of the issues surrounding Win10, which from a business standpoint, may not be suitable given how it works.

I don't know if that's the case. I can only speak for myself. My business has (starts counting) about 18 systems including servers. I have an IT provider who supplies all my systems which they build to my needs.

None are prebuilt. 

Probably the exception, last place i was working used Dell exclusively, probably under 100 systems, but they were all prebuilt, obviously, and the last 'refresh was from XP to Win 7, not all that long ago either, afaik there weren't any plans to do another refresh for 2 or 3 years, the other thing was the IT department vetted and manually rolled out all the patches/software as necessary, which might be why Win10 wasnt a consideration.

Ridelynn

Panther2103 said:

I also feel like a lot of people are upgrading a lot less often now too. Just because parts aren't becoming obsolete as fast as they used to. 

I think this has more to do with it than anything.

Back in the 90's and early 00's, PC speed doubled every 18 months or so, and software more or less kept up with the trend. We went from MS DOS to Win3.1 to Win95 to WinXP in the span of 10 years there.

And... most of the world is still on WinXP today. So that right there just kind of tells you how the market has stalled. And hardware follows the same course really - not a lot of performance to be gained since... the jump from Pentium 4 to the Core branding. A person running a Conroe today may still be perfectly happy with the performance, because web browsers and office suites just aren't that demanding on resources - and that's the bulk of what gets used on a typical PC.

That, and there is only so much room for the market before you hit saturation - not a lot of people are new to PCs now - most people that are going to get one, have got one. So they are in an upgrade cycle. That is similar to the problem Apple is having with the iPhone/iPad right now - market is saturated, not a lot of new growth, it's just people upgrading or replacing existing units.

laserit

blueturtle13 said:

laserit said:

Most PCs in the world are found in Business Offices. Not homes.

Not sure that is actually the case.
While sales of prebuilt systems is definitely falling off, the sales of hardware is actually on the rise, after all, neither Nvidia nor Amd are complaining about their sales figures either, which indicates that a significant proportion of that hardware is actually related to the home user, not the business one, which does rely on primarily prebuilt systems, what this indicates more than anything is that businesses are not 'refreshing' their systems with newer ones, and it could be a corollary of some of the issues surrounding Win10, which from a business standpoint, may not be suitable given how it works.

I don't know if that's the case. I can only speak for myself. My business has (starts counting) about 18 systems including servers. I have an IT provider who supplies all my systems which they build to my needs.

None are prebuilt. 

I think it is pretty basic logic to assume that it is true. Nearly every business in the world uses at least one. Most business' operate with multiple machines. Look at a company like Barnes and Noble: with over 700+ retail locations and over 650 College bookstores they have 30 PCs per store average. The Boise store has 50.  (They are a $12 million a year store)
( I used to work for them) They are US company only. That is just one company. Add to that all the business' in other sectors and countries. Pretty fair to say the number of PCs in Business out numbers home PCs by a wide margin.

I think what gets forgotten a lot in many things concerning business is at least (in my country anyway) over 80% of employment is from small business.

Now computers are quite a hobby for me and I'm always paying attention to them. What I notice in my dealings is that large companies tend to be serviced by large IT firms who use prebuilts and small businesses tend to be serviced by other small business who like to build systems. Probably helps their bottom line.

All I'm saying is don't discount custom built systems. They are most definitely a significant factor. 

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

SEANMCAD

laserit said:

blueturtle13 said:

laserit said:

Most PCs in the world are found in Business Offices. Not homes.

Not sure that is actually the case.
While sales of prebuilt systems is definitely falling off, the sales of hardware is actually on the rise, after all, neither Nvidia nor Amd are complaining about their sales figures either, which indicates that a significant proportion of that hardware is actually related to the home user, not the business one, which does rely on primarily prebuilt systems, what this indicates more than anything is that businesses are not 'refreshing' their systems with newer ones, and it could be a corollary of some of the issues surrounding Win10, which from a business standpoint, may not be suitable given how it works.

I don't know if that's the case. I can only speak for myself. My business has (starts counting) about 18 systems including servers. I have an IT provider who supplies all my systems which they build to my needs.

None are prebuilt. 

I think it is pretty basic logic to assume that it is true. Nearly every business in the world uses at least one. Most business' operate with multiple machines. Look at a company like Barnes and Noble: with over 700+ retail locations and over 650 College bookstores they have 30 PCs per store average. The Boise store has 50.  (They are a $12 million a year store)
( I used to work for them) They are US company only. That is just one company. Add to that all the business' in other sectors and countries. Pretty fair to say the number of PCs in Business out numbers home PCs by a wide margin.

I think what gets forgotten a lot in many things concerning business is at least (in my country anyway) over 80% of employment is from small business.

Now computers are quite a hobby for me and I'm always paying attention to them. What I notice in my dealings is that large companies tend to be serviced by large IT firms who use prebuilts and small businesses tend to be serviced by other small business who like to build systems. Probably helps their bottom line.

All I'm saying is don't discount custom built systems. They are most definitely a significant factor. 

to add to that I wonder if 'Power Spec' which is a pre-built from MicroCenter would be counted as a pre-built or a custom

ceratop001

blueturtle13 said:

The PC is continuing to fall in relevance with consumers due to a number of factors. New data released today by two separate analyst firms, Gartner and IDC, peg the fall in sales for the first quarter of 2016 at 9.6 and 11.5 percent, respectively, across the globe.

“In the short term, the PC market must still grapple with limited consumer interest and competition from other infrastructure upgrades in the commercial market,” said IDC research manager Jay Chou, in a statement.

It's not only competition from smartphones, though -- everything from longer lifespans of hardware to political turmoil can affect shipments. 

This news follows in the footsteps of a 10.6 percent drop in PC shipments in 2015, according to IDC.

Read More:
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/270174/Global_PC_shipments_continue_to_fall_in_2016.php

I wonder if PC prices drop significantly.