According to Taiwan's MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, shipment volume of the desktop PC industry reached around 15.6 million units in the second quarter of 2013, up 8.3% sequentially. The growth is mainly ascribed to Microsoft's decision to terminate its Windows XP OS support in April 2014 and enterprises' usual rush to use up budgets towards the year-end. These have yielded the demand to replace commercial models in the third quarter of 2013. Also, shipment volume of Haswell-architecture desktop PCs running on Core i3 and Pentium processors has begun to rise. Meanwhile, branded vendors were quite optimistic about Haswell-architecture platform which was launched in the third quarter, traditionally the peak season for desktop PCs. As they have demonstrated advocacy for Haswell processors featuring low power consumption, enterprises' adoption of Haswell-based models has also increased. This has resulted in the strong pull-in demand for Haswell-powered desktop PCs in the third quarter of 2013 in anticipation of incoming summer vacation, back-to-school demand, and China's October holiday. Consequently, the inventory levels at the distribution-end were high.
The majority of branded desktop PC shipments have seen growth in the third quarter of 2013, the transitional period between new and older OS platforms where the replacement demand for commercial desktop PCs have been witnessed. Shipment volume of branded vendors like HP and Dell - who have been actively cultivating the commercial market - grew significantly in the third quarter. “The signs of recovery in the Japan's economic environment also shed the light on the willingness to increase consumption in the market”. “Replacement demand of Japanese enterprises for commercial desktop PCs was evidently seen and thus shipments of Japanese branded desktop PCs were relatively strong when compared to other branded models”, said Evelyn Chang, Industry Analyst for Information System.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of 2013, it is anticipated that desktop PCs running on the desktop-level processors of Intel and AMD will proliferate and branded vendors will continue on price reduction promotions for older models. Some AIO (All In One) models are due to hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2013 as well. In order to increase the adoption of touch screens, new AIO models to be released in the fourth quarter, will be mainly transformable or double-hinged models with higher ASP. Customers in the consumer market are expected to keep the wait-and-see attitude and price-friendly products are still highly preferable. In the commercial market, prices are still the major factor to affect the market demand. Nevertheless, the share of desktop PCs in the entry-level and mid-range price ranges is expected to be benefited by the increasing replacement demand for commercial models.
Taiwanese Desktop PC Shipment Volume, 3Q 2011 - 1Q 2014
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About MIC
Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english