Sales of PC systems, including desktops, notebooks, netbooks and workstations, increased by an impressive 20,2% through Western European distribution markets for Q2 2014 compared to Q2 2013, following a much-welcomed return to growth in the first quarter of the year.
Unfortunately sales across African regions did not echo these results, according to Christopher Riley, MD of The Notebook Company.
“Sales across African regions did not mirror the same levels of success, largely as a result of the prolonged weakness in the economies in these regions, where PC sales have declined compared to the same period a year ago.
“A further contributing factor to this stagnant performance is the continued growth of tablet PCs, especially in southern African regions,” he says.
Turning to Western Europe, end-of-XP support, once again – and the general need for product refreshes – were central to the growth in Q2 2014, although the year-on-year performance also continued to be boosted by a weak comparative period last year.
According to Context Research Update, the late XP migration orders and the demand for software refreshes nudged up sales across all PC categories, with desktops showing a 37,2% increase, notebooks up 15,8%, and workstations up 39,6% year-on-year during the quarter.