Volume sales of mini PCs continued to grow in Q1 2018 and were able to offset the weaker performance of many of other forms of desktop computer.
According to the latest distribution data published by Context, sales of mini PCs through Western European distributors were up by +28% in Q1 2018 compared to last year, driving a +1% year-on-year consolidated growth in sales of desktops.
In fact, mini PCs accounted for almost 32% of desktops sold in the quarter, an increase of 7 percentage points on the previous year’s 25%.
“The rising popularity of mini PCs over the past year is due to improvements in their performance as well as their space-saving design, and many PC vendors have increased their focus on the segment to leverage rising demand,” says Marie-Christine Pygott, senior analyst at Context.
In Q1 2018 all of the top mini-PC vendors – which include Lenovo, HP, Intel, Dell and Fujitsu – benefited from the growing need for compact, desk-based solutions and saw their mini PC sales increase.