Global personal computer (PC) market has been recovering and will keep the upward momentum with double-digit annual growth through 2014, market research firm IDC said on Monday.
PC shipments worldwide are expected to jump 12.6 percent in 2010 from the previous year, and grow at yearly rates of 13.9, 12.7, 11.5 and 11.3 percent respectively in the coming four years, according to projections by IDC.
IDC noted that the expansions are driven by PC market rebound beginning from the second half of last year.
After a severely constrained first half in 2009, steeply discounted PCs along with improving economic conditions steered the market back into the black in the latter half, resulting in 2.9 percent growth of global PC shipments for the whole year.
“PC volume continued to grow in 2009, fairing much better than in 2001, when a smaller recession produced a decline in PC volume. The positive 2009 results reflect lower prices and the fact that PCs are increasingly a must-have product,” Jay Chou, a research analyst at IDC, said in a statement.
Analysis by IDC showed that portable PCs acted as the key driving force behind the market rebound, with shipments increasing 18.4 percent in 2009 compared to 2008.
Portable PCs will remain the driver of growth across consumer and commercial segments throughout the forecast period, and will reach a 70-percent share of total PC shipments by 2012, IDC predicted.
