South Korea sees PC sales dip below 1M for first time in decade

PC shipment in the South Korean market slips 4.6 percent to 990,000 units, marking the first time levels have dropped to that level in 10 years.

PC shipment in South Korea has dipped below 1 million units in the third quarter of 2015, marking the first time quarterly levels have slipped to that level in the past decade.

Shipment fell by 4.6 percent to 990,000 units between July and September, with laptops accounting for 460,000 of the overall figure, according to Yonhap News Agency, which cited figures from IDC.

The local PC market would remain soft amid the bleak economic outlook, as businesses in South Korea struggled to deal with pressures on IT spending.

IDC said the domestic market would see increased competition next year between ultra-thin mobile computers and detachable tablet PCs. The research firm added that device makers should focus their efforts on enhancing connectivity of desktops, tablets, smartphones, and wearables.

Globally, PC shipments for the quarter reached almost 71 million units, dropping 10.8 percent over the same quarter last year, according to IDC stats. This was worse than previous projects of a 9.2 percent decline.

The market was dragged down by a challenging financial landscape and transition period, where resellers looked to clear their Windows 8 inventory before bringing in a wider portfolio of models preinstalled with Windows 10 and Intel Skylake processors, IDC explained. Vendors and challenges also were keen to mitigate price fluctuations due to the volatile currency exchange rates, which slowed down PC shipments in the third quarter.