Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Mobile Drives 10.5% CAGR in PCs

A recent report from In-Stat has revealed that the number of microprocessors shipping for notebook PCs will exceed those shipping for desktop PCs, a trend that can be expected as early as end of this year.

Although this clearly shows that the personal computer microprocessor market is heading for an inflection point, it is not to say that the desktop PC market is dead says the high-tech market firm.

In fact, the desktop PC market will continue to experience single-digit growth rates for several years, but have a short hiatus in 2008 and 2009 when the growth will be less than one percent due to US macroeconomic pressures and the subsequent global fallout.

In the long-run, desktop PCs are expected to be high in demand in developing economies because of the extreme price sensitivities and in commercial applications through the growth of smaller form factors. Richer content over the Internet and changing usage models will also drive overall market growth in the future.

Other findings from the In-Stat research titled “Intel and AMD Adapt to a Changing PC Marketplace,” include:

• Growth in developing economies will continue to drive growth in both mobile and desktop PCs in the future.

• Ultra Mobile Devices will not impact mobile PCs or smartphones until after 2010.

• The already intensely competitive rivalry between Intel and AMD will become yet more intense and price competitive as each side continues to try to gain an advantage over the other.