http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-is-sole-winner-in-otherwise-dismal-holiday-for-pcs-2016-01-12
Apple is sole winner in otherwise dismal holiday for PCs
Apple Inc. once again stepped up as the lone winner in the PC industry despite
a broader market contraction in the fourth quarter, according to data released
Tuesday by Gartner and IDC.
IDC reported a 10.6% quarterly decline for personal computers during the
holiday shopping season, marking the biggest year-over-year decrease in the PC
market’s history. Gartner said shipments fell 8.3% to 75.7 million units. On an
annual basis, PC shipments fell below 300 million units for the first time
since 2008, IDC said.
Apple, however, bucked the trend for the second straight quarter. The company’s
shipments rose nearly 3% to around 5.6 million units worldwide, according to
IDC and Gartner, while industry leaders Lenovo, HP Inc. and Dell all faced
year-over-year declines. HP, which sells machines running Microsoft Corp.’s
Windows operating system, fared the worst with shipments falling 10.1%
year-over-year, according to IDC.
The data marks just the latest evidence of dismal demand for personal
computers, with the fourth quarter marking the fifth straight period of
quarterly declines.
Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said holiday sales were unable to
boost the market, despite increased promotions for PCs, while IDC said an
increase in demand for higher-end detachable tablets, such as the iPad Pro,
cannibalized some of the demand for traditional PCs. Apple, Microsoft and
Alphabet Inc. all introduced higher-tier tablets ahead of the holidays.
Apple’s Mac success is good news for Apple investors ahead of results for the
company’s first fiscal quarter, due later this month. A number of Wall Street
analysts have recently reeled in their iPhone shipment estimates for the first
and second quarters, after reports of production cuts.
PiperJaffray axed its March quarter iPhone unit estimate to 55 million from
62.5 million and June quarter outlook to 45 million from 48.5 million on
Tuesday, though maintained a buy rating and stock price target of $179, which
implies an increase of 79% from Tuesday’s closing price.
Analysts polled by FactSet on average expect Apple to have shipped 76 million
units in its fiscal first quarter, which ended in December, compared with 74
million last year. They are anticipating flat Mac sales of 6 million.
