PC sales across the spectrum are evidently declining due to many different trends in the electronic market; however, high end PC gaming desktops and laptops seem to be unaffected by the slumping sales of tradition PCs.
The downturn of sales in the PC market had been foreseen, but the fourth quarter of 2015 saw the largest dip in sales since 2008. Nonetheless, the selling of high end PC gaming rigs–including laptops–are on the rise. PC shipments totaled 71.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015. This figure illustrates over a 10.6 percent year-on-year drop, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. 2015 was the first year to rank below 300 million units total since 2008. Due to the Holidays, there was a slight increase in these sales compared to the previous three quarters of 2015, but the modest uptick wasn’t substantial enough to make a difference.
The decline of traditional PCs could be the result of many market influences and technological trends. Longer PC hardware lifespans, the ever-growing mobile electronic product market, and economic issues such as the weakening of foreign tech markets can all be to blame. For the latter issue, IDC’s Vice President Loren Loverde had this to say: “The PC market remains competitive and the economic environment weakened further with the recent drop in the Chinese stock market.” He went on to claim that PC replacements should gather steam again in 2016 as the adoption of Windows 10 accelerates.
All of this grisly data concerning PCs should apply to gamers too, but they (we) are an enthusiastic bunch. Though there isn’t any exact data available for this market segment, high end PC gaming desktops and laptops are doing better than ever at this time. Obviously, PC gaming enthusiasts have no need for a smartphone or tablet to play a game, as the hardware is much too limited. Possibly due to the upcoming relevancy of Virtual Reality and its hardware requirements, those of us who just want the best 3DMark score possible aren’t hindered by the deterioration. This year it’s likely that manufacturers of high end PC gaming desktops will present custom PCs built to run Virtual Reality hardware, and will be subsequently advertised as “VR Ready.”
As corporations and businesses around the world upgrade to Windows 10, the PC market is expected to experience an upswing in 2016. Hopefully, the PC market will make up for its lost ground in 2015 while the high end PC gaming segment continues gaining ground.
