Beijing, February 2, 2015 — The shipment of China’s smart connected devices (“SCDs”, including PCs, tablets and smartphones) in 2014 was around 510 million units, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 16.2%. Wherein, the shipment of PCs was 61.02 million units, down by 5.5% YoY; the shipment of tablets was 27.86 million units, up by 7.5% YoY; the shipment of smartphones was 420 million units, up by 20.9% YoY. IDC predicts that in 2015, the shipment of China’s SCDs will reach 540 million units, and the YoY growth will slow down.
According to Nick Mu, Senior Analyst of IDC China, “2014 witnessed the rapid integration of China’s SCD products. In 2014, many factors changed China’s SCD market, including the penetration of SCD products into lower tier cities, changes in sales channels, as well as the impact of smartphones and tablets on PCs. ”
Although the overall growth of China’s SCDs will slow down a little bit, the real question is what will occur in regional markets and urban markets, at different tiers of cities as well as different products and channels? Which trends will determine how consumers and suppliers adapt to the market changes? Bearing these questions in mind, IDC concluded the following 10 predictions for China’s SCD market in 2015:
1. PC demands will recover 1st- to 3rd-tier cities
In the recent two years, PCs were impacted by smartphones and tablets, in the way that the sales of the smartphones and tablets were greatly stimulated by the demand for the mobile Internet. Thus far, PCs didn’t fare well in the mobile Internet age, and consumers’ PC-upgrading cycle was undoubtedly prolonged. Recently though, Microsoft has formally issued Windows 10, which was advertized as the universal OS compatible on PCs, tablets, smartphones and all desired devices. It is expected to become the standard in the PC industry in 2015, especially for the corporate users in the 1st- to 3rd-tier cities and the individual consumers pursuing interconnectivity. Hardware manufacturers will begin to see the redemptive recovery resulting from the consumers’ accumulated demands to upgrade their PCs.