IDC forecasts the PC market will decline for a second consecutive year in 2013, with global shipments to drop by -1.3% despite industry efforts to overcome current market inertia.

Overall 2012 sees global shipments decline by -3.7%, with volumes dropping even in emerging markets. According to the analyst 2012 ended on a particularly sour note, with Q4 2012 shipments shrinking by -8.3% due to an underwhelming Windows 8 launch, pressures from tablets and further economic woes hitting the market Continue reading...

Smart connected device (desktop and portable PCs, tablets and smartphones) shipments total 367.7 million units in Q4 2012 with 28.3% Y-o-Y growth IDC reports-- with smartphones and tablets driving growth as PCs decline.

Overall 2012 shipments total 1.2 billion units.

According to the analyst PC shipments are down (desktops by -4.1% Y-o-Y, portables -3.4%), tablets show record 78.4% Y-o-Y growth and smartphones grow by 46.1% while accounting for 60.1% of all 2012 smart connected device shipments.

According to IHS iSuppli 2012 WW NAND flash memory revenues drop by -7% to $19.7 billion (down from $21.2bn in 2011) as ultrabook sales negate the impact of surging demand from Apple.

The analyst is still hopeful for the future though, and predicts 2013 revenues will rise to $22.4bn before expanding during the next few years.

“Because of its high-memory density, combined with high-volume shipments, Apple’s iPhone line in 2012 was the largest single consumer of NAND, helping to increase demand for the memory from the smartphone market,” iSuppli remarks. “However Ultrabook sales fell short of industry expectations, dragging down the overall NAND market for the year.”

Apple iPhones consume 10.5% of the total 2012 NAND flash supply-- while all other smartphones use just 10.4%. The iPhone has an average NAND flash density of 24.5GB, the highest in all smartphones according to the analyst.

Apple is the top Q4 2012 global PC maker according to Canalys, shipping 27 million units with over 20% share of the market as overall PC shipments reach 134m units with 12% Y-o-Y growth.

Samsung and Amazon also feature in the PC maker ranks, while Windows 8 has little effect on flat W. European notebook shipments.

Such numbers contrast sharply with those from Gartner and IDC, who paint a fair gloomier picture of the PC market-- but one has to keep in mind Canalys counts tablets as PCs in its totals, Continue reading...