Gartner: Users spending on PCs and mobile devices will fall

Sina Technology News Beijing time on January 20 evening news, research firm Gartner released a report on Wednesday, said global computing equipment shipments in 2016 will reach 2.4 billion, an increase of 1.9%. End-user spending on these devices will decline for the first time, a drop of about 0.5%.

Computing devices that Gartner refers to include PCs, tablets, ultramobiles, and mobile phones. Ultra-mobile devices such as hybrid and clamshell laptops, such as the Microsoft Surface and the Apple MacBook Air are high-end ultra-mobile devices, while the iPad, iPad mini, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, Nexus 7, and Acer Iconia Tab 8 are basic and practical. Ultra mobile device.


Equipment shipments in 2015-2018
(Note: Traditional PCs refer to traditional desktops and laptops, Ultramobile (Premium) refers to X86 Windows thin devices and Apple MacBook Air, Ultramobile (Basic and Utility) refers to Android, iOS tablet devices, Mobile Phones for mobile phones.)

The report pointed out that, like last year, this year's computing equipment market will still be affected by the economic development of various countries. Ranjit Atwal, head of research at Gartner, said: "It is clear that these equipment manufacturers can't just think about mature markets and emerging markets when they sell their products. Depending on the state of the economy, today The market should be subdivided into four categories: economically challenged mature markets, economically stable mature markets, economically challenged emerging markets, and economically stable emerging markets. For example, Russia and Brazil are economically challenging emerging markets, and India is economically stable. Emerging markets, and Japan is an economically challenging mature market."

Gartner expects shipments of traditional PCs (desktops and laptops) to reach 232 million units this year, down from 246 million units last year, and will reach 226 million units and 219 million units in 2017 and 2018, respectively. High-end ultra-mobile devices will reach 55 million units this year, compared to 45 million units last year. The shipment of basic ultra-mobile devices will reach 195 million units, compared to 196 million units last year.

This year, global mobile phone shipments will reach 1.959 billion units, up from 1.910 billion units last year, and will reach 1.983 billion units in 2017 and 2.034 billion units in 2018. Overall, global computing equipment shipments will reach 2.441 billion units in 2016, an increase of 1.9% compared to the 2.933 billion units in 2015.


Atwal said that mainly high-end ultra-mobile devices, as well as new PCs based on Intel Skylake architecture and Microsoft Windows 10 will stimulate the global PC market demand. Atwal also said that commercial users will be able to deploy Windows 10 faster than the previous Windows upgrade cycle.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Gartner surveyed 3,000 business users in six countries (China, Brazil, India, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and found that nearly 80% of business users will complete testing for Windows 10 within one year. And assessment, more than 60% is expected to be completed within 9 months.

Atwal said: "Given the shortened testing and evaluation time, many business users will transition to Windows 10 by the end of 2016. By the end of 2017, 40% of commercial users are expected to run Windows 10."

This year, global mobile phone shipments are expected to increase by 2.6%. End-user spending on mobile phones will grow by 1.2%, but this is not enough to compensate for the decline in end-user spending on overall computing devices. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2016, 82% of global mobile phones will be smartphones, up 12% from 2015.

According to the report, some local mobile phone brands and Chinese mobile phone manufacturers will increase the feature-rich and attractive economical smartphones at a lower price. These phones are sufficient for users' needs, so users do not need to upgrade to high-end smartphones.