PC shipments worldwide are expected to be lower than the previous year as the corporate cut back their IT spending and consumers move towards mobile devices, according to a research firm iSuppli.
The research firm has revised its earlier forecast which predicted 0.7% growth in the PC shipments for the year. Now, it expects global PC shipments to decline to 287.3 million units in 2009, down 4% from 299.2 million in 2008.
The firm said that this would be the first time, the global PC market would suffer since the Dot-Com bubble burst in 2001.
According to iSuppli, the primary factor driving the decline in the PC market in 2009 is an expected 18.1% plunge in desktop shipments. Unit shipments of desktop PCs will amount to 124.4 million in 2009, down from 151.9 million in 2008.
Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli, said: “An annual decline in unit shipments is highly unusual in the PC market. Even in weak years, PC unit shipments typically rise by single-digit percentages.”
However, Notebooks continue to shine even in the weak market. iSuppli expects the notebook PC shipments to rise by 11.7% to reach 155.97 million units in 2009, which exceeds the sales of desktop PCs for the first time ever.
Wilkins added: “Mobility is winning out in the PC market. Businesses and consumers continue to embrace notebooks PCs because of the benefits of mobility and the near-equal performance and feature set. This is cutting into desktop PC shipments.”
