Australian PC market returns to decline in Q4

Australian PC sales fell 2.5% during the fourth quarter of 2018, in a sharp decline after two solid quarters of growth, according to IDC.

The market, which had grown 8.9% during the second quarter and 9.6% during the third, returned to decline in the fourth quarter.

For the full year, the market for commercial PC devices grew 9.2% but shipments in consumer devices declined 3%.

DC Australia Market Analyst Sean Ashari blamed the retraction in the consumer market on factors including ongoing substitution of mobile devices, the slower pace of innovation and improvement in mainstream PC devices, and a disappointing gaming graphics hardware refresh cycle.

“For much of the year the opposite trend was seen in commercial PC device shipments that were encouraged by SMB tax rebates, the looming Windows 7 End of Support deadline, and the growing adoption of the PC-as-a-service model,” he said.

“Organisations were hungry for devices; however, in 2018 Q4 a combination of the Intel CPU shortage and uncertainty in business conditions (resulting from the US–China Trade War, domestic spending decline) curtailed growth at the end of the year and broke a yearlong commercial growth trend.”

By contrast, the Australian PC monitor market experienced an 8.3% year-on-year growth in unit shipments during the fourth quarter and a 10.4% growth for the calendar year, IDC said. This represented the highest growth for this market segment in the last 10 years.

Ashtari said the growth was stimulated by factors including the continuing increase in popularity of dual-monitor set-ups for office employees, as well as consumers looking to duplicate their workplace popularity on their home devices as they take advantage of flexible workplace policies.

But the market is tracking to record a 1.7% decrease in the current year as a result of macroeconomic factors such as shrinking household savings and uncertainty around interest rates, he said.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/demango23

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