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Driven by buoyant consumer sales and sustained momentum in notebook demand, the Western European PC market expanded by 15.5% in 4Q05. Thanks to four quarters of double-digit growth, more than 48 million units were shipped across the region in 2005, reflecting a solid 16% year-on-year increase.
Desktop sales displayed softer trends at 4.8% in the final quarter of the year. Growth was driven by consumer demand for desktop upgrades offering new digital home entertainment applications. Assisted by buoyant sales during the Christmas season, the consumer desktop market recorded a healthy 8.5% growth. Commercial demand remained subdued at 1.7%, directly impacted by slower corporate refresh activity and the strong trend of desktop replacement with notebooks in the SMB space. The notebook market enjoyed unabated momentum, recording a robust 32.6% increase in the final quarter of the year. Fuelled by the fierce competition of top-tier vendors within and between channels, system ASPs continued to decline, stimulating significant consumer demand, and as a result the consumer notebook market expanded by 43.1%. Commercial sales were mainly driven by SMB demand, as portable adoption in this segment continued at an accelerated pace and contributed to an overall increase of 23.3%.
"The Western European PC market will show signs of a slowdown in 2006, with growth returning to a more moderate single-digit range at 9.7%," said Eszter Morvay, research analyst for IDC's EMEA Quarterly PC Research Group. Desktop sales will remain subdued at 1.3%, driven by healthy consumer demand, while commercial shipments are expected to report declining trends. "Overall growth will continue to be fuelled by robust notebook demand as the portable market is forecast to expand by 21.5%. Sustained vendor and channel focus on mobility coupled with aggressive price points will continue to prompt many users in the consumer and SMB markets to purchase notebooks," she added.
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