PC shipments to bounce back in 2018 after slowdown

There will be an increase in PC shipments through 2018 after a six-year straight decline, market research firm Gartner reports.

Total PC market shipments, which was down to 263 million units in 2017 from 270 million in 2016, will rise to 265 million units next year. The product line, including traditional desktop PCs, notebooks and premium ultramobiles, has recovered thanks to OS upgrades, particularly Windows 10. This was despite PC prices going steep because of expensive components, according to Ranjit Atwal as quoted in EETimes.

The Windows 10 trend was said to be well noticeable in Western Europe. As for PC sales, China is a must-observe growth driver as Microsoft plans on a Windows 10 designed for the Chinese government’s devices.

Growth in PCs is expected by Gartner to lift total electronics shipments by about 2 percent in the forecast period. Like PCs, tablets and smartphones are also big contributors to electronics market growth. Shipped units for the latter is poised to reach 1.88 billion in 2018. Apple’s soon-to-be-available iPhone X is forecasted to propel smartphone sales in China, North America and Western Europe.