PC shipments will grow 9% this year

Foreign media predicts that PC shipments this year are expected to reach 493.1 million units, up 7% from last year. One of the most contributors is the tablet PC product. Shipments of this type of equipment are expected to account for 37% of total PC shipments this year, an increase of 59% from the previous year, reaching 182.5 million units.

According to the latest report of market research organization Canalys, the above expectations are based on the analysis of the actual demand for PC products in the first quarter of 2013. In the previous quarter, desktop PC shipments fell 10.3% year-on-year, and notebook computers also fell 13.1%, but tablet PCs increased by 106.1% year-on-year to approximately 41.9 million units. As there are no signs of a change in market trends, Canalis expects that global tablet shipments will exceed notebook shipments in the final quarter of this year.

By 2017, Canalys expects global shipments of PCs to reach 713.8 million units, of which 64% will be tablet PCs, 25% notebook PCs and only 11% desktop PCs. These are just predictions based on current trends, so it is almost certain that there will be a certain degree of change in the numbers in the future.

Windows 8 was once again mentioned in the report of Canalys. Since its launch, the system has not been able to successfully stimulate sales growth in the PC market, so the market now has new expectations for Windows 8.1. Microsoft has released a lot of information about the operating system, and later this month it is expected that more relevant information will be made public.

“Microsoft is still continuing to innovate,” said Tim Coulling, senior analyst with Canalys. “The new version will be released and Microsoft’s system development cycle will be accelerated. However, Microsoft must recognize and resolve its new Some problems and criticisms of the system's user interface, or they will lose more PC's market share to iOS and Android platforms."

In fact, Canalys survey analyst Pin-Chen Tang predicts that a new batch of Android-based devices will be enough to help Google gain 45% of the tablet market this year. Apple is still the leader of the market, the share is expected to be about 49%, the market has a high expectation for the iPad mini. In other words, Canalis believes that the market space reserved for Windows 8 and other operating systems is only about 6%.