Gaming PCs and Laptop sales down 6.2 per cent year on year

by Mark Tyson on 26 June 2019, 14:11

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A recent report by market intelligence firm IDC remarks on the mixed fortunes in the PC gaming hardware industry. For a long time Gaming PCs (including laptops) have been a bright spot, bucking the overall downtrend of the PC systems market. However, IDC reports that worldwide shipments of gaming desktops and notebooks reached 7.5 million units during the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19), down 6.2 per cent from last year. It isn't all gloom though, as companies invested in the gaming monitor market have seen a welcome sales uplift of 48.6 per cent in the same comparative period.

So what has gone wrong for the typically buoyant gaming PCs market? IDC reckons it is a combination of factors; the oversupply / excess stock of GPUs available earlier this year, and "macroeconomic headwinds in large markets like China".

Taken in turn, the reduction in prices of a range of AMD and Nvidia GPUs in the wake of the crypto-crash was well covered in news articles previously. Late last year Nvidia was already attributing the 'crypto hangover' for its financial forecast woes. With a large amount of unsold stocks of mainly mid-range GPUs, Nvidia and AMD (and partners) have had to steadily reduce their pricing to catch customer eyeballs. The availability of these better value graphics cards has prompted consumers to upgrade their desktops rather than do a full system upgrade. Secondly, most people are well aware of the "macroeconomic headwinds," at this time, as people wonder if we are nearing another painful recession, as per 2008, but with nationalist politics 'borders not business' rather than bankers to blame this time around.

It is noted that during Q1 2019 that 3.5 million new gaming desktops were shipped, down 10.6 per cent from last year. Gaming laptops were less seriously impacted - down 2 per cent YoY. This laptops sales downturn has been witnessed as "gamers lay in wait for new GPUs to be implemented in mobile systems," thinks IDC.

Looking towards the rest of 2019 IDC analysts reckon there will be a PC gaming industry rebound. Inventory issues will diminish and new products will hit the store shelves having a positive impact on the market. AMD is looking good with new CPUs and GPUs expected to shine in H2 2019. As for Nvidia, its RTX graphics cards haven't had much chance to shine but with many more AAA titles supporting ray tracing emerging, the green team's premium offerings could attract more buyers.

As the year draws to a close, IDC predicts that the market for gaming desktops, notebooks, and monitors will grow 7.3 per cent for the full year of 2019, reaching 41.5 million units. Further into the future it expects this headline figure to extend beyond 55 million units by 2023, driven by the popularity of PC gaming and eSports.



HEXUS Forums :: 15 Comments

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Now you can skip many generations of hardware it should prompt the prices to drop *in my dreams*
AAA games are fairly toxic these days and I wonder if we will ever recover after the Crypto mining madness. Once people started paying crazy prices, the manufacturers started to charge crazy prices and I think that's brought us to where we are now a downward spiral.
Is it just me that doesn't get the bit about cheaper graphics cards? If GPUs are cheaper and you need a system refresh, then your system refresh will be cheaper because it includes a cheap GPU. So if price was an issue (it never seems to be) then it should help system sales. If price isn't an issue, then cheaper GPUs aren't relevant to system sales.

OTOH, if you *don't* see the need for a system refresh, then you won't get one. With nothing that new or interesting out, I expect this is most people.
If you are waiting for Zen 2, you won't get a new PC *yet*.

Speaking as someone who just upgraded the GPU in my son's PC because RX 570 is just so cheap atm (and I'm taking a punt that Navi won't be introduced down at that price level for ages), and am waiting for Zen 2 CPUs to get released before upgrading my PC it feels like these people have completely misread my purchasing motivations.
I bet there's a lot of people waiting for new architectures, with Zen 2, Intel not really putting out anything new and exciting, and NVidia putting a serious squeeze on people's wallets with it's high end. I'll bet there will be a major bump after Zen 2 CPUs are released.

Crypto mining might get more popular again, with popular currencies gaining value again. (Bitcoin's bback up to over $12K US. It's not the 18K it was, but it's way more than the 6K it dropped down to.)
globalwarning
Crypto mining might get more popular again, with popular currencies gaining value again. (Bitcoin's bback up to over $12K US. It's not the 18K it was, but it's way more than the 6K it dropped down to.)

I would hope that GPU mining is gone though.
Taken in turn, the reduction in prices of a range of AMD and Nvidia GPUs in the wake of the crypto-crash was well covered in news articles previously. Late last year Nvidia was already attributing the ‘crypto hangover’ for its financial forecast woes. With a large amount of unsold stocks of mainly mid-range GPUs, Nvidia and AMD (and partners) have had to steadily reduce their pricing to catch customer eyeballs. The availability of these better value graphics cards has prompted consumers to upgrade their desktops rather than do a full system upgrade. Secondly, most people are well aware of the “macroeconomic headwinds,” at this time, as people wonder if we are nearing another painful recession, as per 2008, but with nationalist politics ‘borders not business’ rather than bankers to blame this time around.

There was a reduction in GPU pricing? When was this? :-(
A crazy increase in pricing for Crypto and then a reduction back down to (still quite) above what was there beforehand is not a reduction; that's still an increase overall. *coughs in 2080Super * excuse me, bad cough there.