Thursday, 21 January 2016

Premium laptops and Windows 10 will ignite recovery in PC market come 2017

Gartner has released its latest figures for worldwide device shipments, and they indicate that while the PC industry is due for a dip this year, it will recover back into positive growth in 2017, with the pace of businesses adopting Windows 10 helping.

Gartner's predictions see the total PC market, encompassing traditional desktop PCs and laptops along with a category it has specified as "premium ultramobiles" – that's higher-end portables like the MacBook Air and Ultrabooks – reaching 287 million units in 2016, a slight 1% drop from the 290 million achieved last year.

However, in 2017 the PC market will ship 299 million units, a 4% increase on 2016. This will be driven by the ultramobiles category as folks shift to Windows 10 and Skylake machines, Gartner says.

Indeed, ultramobiles will increase from 45 million units shipped in 2015 to 55 million units this year, and then 74 million units in 2017, a big leap over a relatively short period of time.

IDC's recent shipment figures also saw premium devices making a difference, and it highlighted convertibles (2-in-1s like Microsoft's Surface) as showing speedy growth and making a big impact this year (although it doesn't count them as traditional PCs).

Business boost

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, also noted: "We expect that businesses will deploy Windows 10 faster than with previous Windows upgrades."

He cited a recent Gartner survey (which included the UK and US) that found almost 80% of businesses will have completed their "testing and evaluation of Windows 10" within the next year, and 60% within nine months.

Atwal stated: "Given the shorter testing and evaluation period, many businesses could start to migrate by the end of 2016. By the end of 2017, many business are looking to move as much as 40% of their installed base onto new Windows 10 devices, mainly driven by the appeal [of the] hybrid touchscreen 2-1. This will be the catalyst for growth in the PC market in 2017."

So there you have it – the business market is going to help boost Windows 10 and the PC industry.

Via: Maximum PC