The PC Market Is Still Shrinking, But New Data Is Not As Poor As Some Expected

IDC recently released its latest report on the global PC market.

The report indicated that the global PC monitor market actually beat expectations in Q4, despite the fact that the overall PC market is in decline.

The Numbers

IDC reported worldwide PC monitor shipments of 34 million units in Q4. This number represents a 4.4 percent year–over-year (Y/Y) decline, but beat estimates for the quarter by 1.3 percentage points. According to IDC director Phuong Hang, holiday sales helped fuel the sector in the quarter.

"Shipments were also bolstered by high volumes of renewals for devices still running Windows XP in both the public and private sectors," Hang added.

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IDC is calling for 30.3 million units to be shipped in 1Q15, a Y/Y decline of 10.4 percent. In addition, they are forecasting 123 million monitor units for all of 2015. IDC expects that number to shrink to only 103.5 million by 2019.

Technology Notes

According to the report, LED backlight adoption reached 97.6 percent market share in Q4. Screen size of 21 inches was the most popular size in the quarter at 22.5 percent share. Finally, monitors with TV tuners are expected to grow to 6.5 percent market share in 2015.

Vendors

Dell remained in the top position when it comes to global market share for the quarter at 15.2 percent.

Samsung Electronics Co (OTC: SSNLF) took over the number two spot with a 12.7 percent share of shipments for the quarter. Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE: HPQ) fell from the second spot to third place with a 11.8 percent market share. Lenovo and LG electronics rounded out the top five vendors for the quarter.