Gartner's Bad News for PCs May Spur More Innovation, Choice For Consumers

More bad news for the PC industry, as another report came out showing how terribly laptops and desktop units are doing in the marketplace, compared to cheaper tablets and smartphones. According to Gartner, a technology market research firm, global PC shipments are expected to decline over 10 percent from last year, as the tablet market continues to grow. Don't worry though, this could be good news for consumers.

The PC's Decline

This is not the first report seen this year showing how the PC market is shrinking, while tablets continue to move toward the top slot. International Data Corporation (IDC) in late May released a report forecasting that the PC market would be outpaced by tablet shipments by 2015. IDC had the PC market declining by a total of 7.8 percent this year, but Garnter adjusts that number even further down.

According to Garntner's research, this year there will be a 10.6 percent decline in PC shipments from 2012, while tablet shipments are expected to grow by 67.9 percent, reaching 202 million total units by the end of the year.

People Want Tablets

The reasoning for this decline continues to be that people are looking for more mobility, choice, and low cost. "Consumers want anytime-anywhere computing that allows them to consume and create content with ease, but also share and access that content from a different portfolio of products. Mobility is paramount in both mature and emerging markets," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

Worldwide Devices Shipments by Segment (Thousands of Units)

(Source: Gartner, June 2013)

More in the Middle

The PC industry has seemingly been making some adjustments to bridge the gap between the popularity and mobility of tablets and higher-end hardware, which is taking a nose-dive, globally, in computer sales.

In early June, Intel unveiled its new, much-anticipated "Haswell" computer processor lineup, which is touted to continue to perform like a traditional computer chip, while saving battery performance of more mobile devices by up to 50 percent. Intel is attempting to make their more traditionally-structured computer chips more mobile-friendly, because a different kind of processor that is used in mobile devices like smartphones (called ARM-based chips) has overtaken them in the market as well.

With or without the new "Haswell" energy-sipping computer chips, more computer manufacturers are creating computer-tablet hybrid devices, like ASUS's Transformer Book Trio - which runs both Android and Windows operating system on two different storage drives and has a detachable touchscreen display -and Samsung's ATIV Q - which flips down from laptop form into a big touchscreen tablet.

Despite these attempts at a PC/tablet compromise, Gartner sees PC sales still declining 7.3 percent in 2013 - even taking into account some early so-called "ultramobile" computers, like Google Chromebooks, PC/tablet hybrids, and large PC-like slate devices. However, it's not all downhill for PCs - and don't expect PC makers to give up and sell only the lowest quality junk tablets from now on. Gartner does see the shift towards ultramobile hybrid devices as a good move. 

"Analysts said ultramobile devices are gaining in attractiveness and drawing demand away from other devices. This will be even more evident in the fourth quarter of 2013 when the combination of new design based on Intel processors Bay Trail and Haswell running on Windows 8.1 will hit the market," said Gartner's report. "The increased availability of lower priced basic tablets, plus the value add shifting to software rather than hardware will result in the lifetimes of premium tablets extending as they remain active in the household for longer. We will also see consumer preferences split between basic tablets and ultramobile devices," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.

So What? I'm Not A PC Manufacturer

What does this mean for consumers? Basically, this news is a good thing. Lighting a fire under PC manufacturers -making them nervous - will spur more innovation, experimentation, and, eventually, better products.

Expect more products like Intel's Ultrabook line, ASUS's Transformer Book Trio, Samsung's ATIV Q, and HP's Slate 21 All-in-One - all of which debuted within the past few weeks. These products are dissimilar from each other - each is a unique attempt to bridge the PC/tablet divide - but they are all designed to bring more powerful PC hardware to mobile users, while also offering some kind of mobile tablet experience.

Which one(s) performs the best in the market will determine what kind of design the next generation of mobile PCs is likely to end up settling on. But no matter what, the coming hybrid devices will be more mobile and flexible than current laptops, and more powerful and useful than current tablets. A win-win for consumers.