China has reportedly overtaken the U.S. as the largest personal-computer market while America struggles to extricate itself from a self-imposed economic quagmire.
According to IDC, PC shipments in China increased 14% to 18.5 million units during the second quarter, while shipments in the U.S. plummeted 4.8% to 17.7 million.
As such, China currently accounts for 22% of the global PC market by shipments – which is exactly a percentage point more than the U.S.
“This was going to happen sooner or later, just like with the car market, and the time has come,” Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc. in Tokyo told Bloomberg.
“China has a huge population and their income is rising.”
David Wolf, chief executive of Wolf Group Asia, a Beijing-based marketing-strategy firm, expressed similar sentiments to the Wall Street Journal.
“The center of gravity of the PC industry has shifted away from the developed world.”
Unsurprisingly, the China-based Lenovo is poised to benefit from the country’s meteoric rise as the largest PC market, as well as from HP’s decision to spin off its personal computer division.
“We think Lenovo’s proven execution track record may help it gain more market share outside China without compromising profitability,” Henry King, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Goldman Sachs Group, concluded in a recent report.
“We believe it would gain potential market share from HP during the transition period.”
