U.S. Sees Positive Spike in PC Shipments, While Africa Struggles: Here’s Why

The landscape for global PC shipments is ever-changing. These shifts reflect much more than just the buying habits of individuals and organizations, they serve as a heartbeat monitor of the global economy, the influence of advancing technology, and the adoption of innovation.

Research and advisory giants, Gartner and IDC, offer us a global perspective by tracking inventories and presenting us with the market shares of PC manufacturers. As the dust settles on the second quarter of the year, the findings reveal a mixed bag of progress and setbacks.

The U.S. market shows a refreshing trend of growth. However, a marked contrast is seen in regions such as EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) where users are innovating traditional behavior and turning their interest toward mobile devices. “Mobility needs continued to push interest towards notebooks, which supported overall volumes,” reveals Gartner. Adding, “this is the first recent quarter of comparison that was not impacted by Bing promotions (that inflated shipments through Q1 2015). As a result, 2Q16 shipments represent a more normalized growth trend – still confirming long-term market erosion for traditional PCs, but showing hints of short-term stabilization.”

But why are mobile devices, such as tablets, outpacing the traditional PC in African markets? There are several key factors. First, due to Moore’s law, transistor count in integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years implying that the average life cycle of a laptop should be roughly two years. Economic factors force us to stretch this timeframe to three years for the average consumer to keep up with industry trends. Unfortunately, it is all too common in Africa to see PCs in use for more than five years. Affordability of new products, impacted by currency fluctuations and the economic downturn, has led to an influx of refurbished and used PCs in the market which offer the basic services at a lesser cost.

The mobile-first movement is rapidly gaining momentum in Africa. With nearly 370 million smart mobile devices projected for the continent by next year, this trend seems set to continue.

However, as businesses worldwide turn their focus to automating processes, companies may choose to maintain or increase IT budgets, leading to a resurgence in PC purchases. This is especially likely as we edge closer to Microsoft’s deadline – after the 29th of this month, the cost to upgrade to Windows 10 will be $119, potentially pushing firms and individuals towards investing in new PCs.

Overall, this trend of mobile dominance may well change as future results roll in. It is also noteworthy to mention that Lenovo still leads in worldwide PC shipments, albeit losing ground year on year. In the U.S., however, Dell remains the market leader with 27 percent market share, closely followed by HP at 26.3 percent, leaving Lenovo at third place with a respectable 14.5 percent market share.