Not every player in the technology space is having a gala time. While the new age biggies such as Apple (AAPL, Financial) and Google (GOOG, Financial) are speeding towards great technological innovations along with widespread consumer acceptance, the traditional PC makers and Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) have to run for their money. The latest reports from IDC again made the picture crystal clear as it summed up the worldwide smartphone and PC shipments. Let’s take a look at the latest report from IDC.
Smartphone market snapshot: Full year and 4Q13
The smartphone shipments touch the 1 billion mark for the first time during a year as the market grew by an outstanding 38.4% during the year and by 24.2% during the fourth quarter of 2013. 2013 turned out to be a great year it has been for the smartphone makers and for Apple and Samsung (SSNLF, Financial) in particular. Together, these two players command more than 46% of the smartphone space in terms of device shipments.
While Samsung witnessed a growth in market share over the previous year, Apple’s share dropped marginally. However, smartphone volumes for both players displayed good growth at 42.9% for Samsung and 12.9% for Apple. Another noteworthy opponent for the top two biggies would be Lenovo. The Chinese phonemaker has been showing great growth potential and is counted among the top Chinese brands in the US. Lenovo’s smartphone market share jumped to 4.5% from 3.3% and its smartphone volume improved by a whooping 91.7%.
Now, coming to the 4Q13 performance, again Samsung is the undisputed champion, capturing 28.8% of the market and displaying a superb 22.9% growth. However, here Huawei showed the highest jump in volumes at 56.5%, closely followed by LG at 53.2%.
PC market snapshot: 4Q13
In contrast to the smartphone space, the PC market shrunk by 5.6% during the fourth quarter of 2013. The situation was the worst for Acer (ACEIF, Financial) whose shipments dropped by 21.4%, followed by ASUS at 11.1% and HP (HPQ, Financial) at 8.5%. However, Lenovo’s shipments improved by 9%, the highest among its peers. Lenovo as a company has had a great quarter with jumps in both PC and smartphone market share and volumes. For the rest, the story has been a sad one. For the full year, the PC market contracted by 10%, a record drop reflecting the changes in mobility and personal computing affecting the market.
Concluding thoughts
The report from IDC reminded me of what Steve Jobs had said about PCs. PCs are like trucks and they will still be around, but their usage will be very limited and will have very limited buyers. The thought seems to have turned true already. With each passing quarter, the PC market players are witnessing slumping sales and shrinking of global market. The question is, what will these once-upon-a-time success stories do about this epic issue. From the present form of the situation, it seems, PCs are about to become Dodo birds of the technology world.
