Despite slight increase in PC shipments in some regions, the overall PC industry continued to show negative growth due to the decline in shipments in Asia Pacific and the United States. In the first quarter of 2018, PC shipments in the Asia-Pacific region decreased annually. 3.9%, U.S. shipments decreased 2.9%. Gartner chief analyst Kitagawa Mikako said that the main reason for the decline came from the Chinese mainland market, and its unit shipments of PCs fell 5.7% from the same period of the previous year. Due to the nationwide China held in early March At the National People's Congress, many state-owned and large-scale enterprises delayed the purchase and upgrade of PCs and related equipment in order to wait for new policies and official personnel changes.
Beichuan Meijiazi further pointed out that PC inventory in the fourth quarter of 2017 continued until the first quarter of 2018. In addition, a number of new models featuring Intel's latest eighth-generation core processor will be available in the second quarter. Therefore, manufacturers are also cautious to prevent overstocking.
According to the data, in the first quarter of 2018, the top three manufacturers of Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo and Dell (Dell) accounted for 56.9% of the global PC market shipments, which is compared to 54.5 in the first quarter of 2017. %. Among them, Dell is the strongest growth among the top six manufacturers in the world, with shipments increasing by 6.5%; HP global PC shipments increasing 2.8% year-on-year. In Europe, Africa and the Middle East, HP is both desktop and mobile PCs. Double-digit growth was achieved, while other regions experienced a slight decline. The declining demand in the United States market had a negative impact on Hewlett-Packard, because the United States accounted for one-third of the company's total shipments.
Lenovo's global PC shipments remained flat in the first quarter of 2018. Lenovo grew 6% in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Latin American shipments also saw double-digit growth. However, in the Asia Pacific region (the company’s largest market), PC shipments Volume fell 4%; As for Dell's continuous performance in the first quarter, shipments to Europe, Africa and the Middle East, North America, and Latin America all experienced double-digit growth, while PC shipments in all regions except Asia Pacific grew up. The growth rate of the top-level and mobile PCs is quite similar, indicating that the commercial sector is where Dell's strengths lie.
In terms of average selling prices, Gartner pointed out that due to the slowdown in the growth of the smart phone market, and the demand for PC replacement is still not clear, part manufacturers are still cautious about capacity expansion. As a result, the continued shortage of parts and bill of materials costs continue to create prices. In the improved environment, the ASP of PCs will continue to increase. Beichuan said that compared with other DRAM-related product prices, PC makers have not reduced the selling price by reducing DRAM capacity. Instead, they will have more costs. Passed to consumers; because fewer people buy new machines, manufacturers must earn the highest gross profit from each sale; and in order to achieve this goal, they turn to selling points, focusing on customer experience or a sense of value on.
In terms of regional overview, Gartner statistics of the United States in the first quarter of 2018 PC shipments totaled 11.8 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 2.9%; Dell became the number one PC manufacturer in the United States, with market share increasing to 29.1%. HP first In the United States, shipments ranked second in the quarter. Compared with the same period of last year, shipments fell by 4.8%, and the market share was 28.4%.
In the first quarter of 2018, PC shipments in the Asia Pacific region totaled 21.9 million units, a decrease of 3.9% year-on-year. This was mainly due to the fact that the PC market in mainland China pulled down overall shipments in the Asia Pacific region. Gartner said that there are currently no obvious signs of government agencies in mainland China. There is a strong demand for upgrades for this particular version of Windows 10, and since most buyers have already sold out during the aggressive promotion period in the fourth quarter of 2017, consumer demand has been weak.
