Worldwide Shipments Of Personal Computers, Tablets, Smartphones To Fall By 0.3 Pct

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 (Bernama) -- Worldwide shipments of personal computers (PCs), tablets and smartphones are expected to exceed 2.3 billion units this year, a decline by 0.3 per cent from 2016, said Gartner Inc. In a statement Thursday, the information technology research and advisory company said, the market was forecast to return to growth in 2018 with a 1.6 per cent increase in shipments. Its Research Director, Ranjit Atwal, said overall, the shipment growth of the device market was steady for the first time in many years. “PC shipments are slightly lower while smartment shipments are slightly higher – leading to a slight downward revision in shipments from the previous forecast,” he said. Gartner said PC shipments were on pace to drop by three per cent this year but the rate of decline was slower than in recent years, alleviated by Windows 10 replacement purchasing. “Prices for components such as Dynamic Random-Access Memory and Solid State Drives hard drives continue to rise, creating headwinds for the global PC and smartphone markets,” it said. Gartner said overall smartphone shipments would grow by five per cent in 2017, reaching nearly 1.6 billion units. It said end-user spending continued to shift from low-cost utility phones to higher priced basic and premium smartphones. “The smartphone market is now more dependent on new devices that offer something different, as users are extending their purchase cycles and need to be enticed to make a replacement,” it said. -- BERNAMA