The latest numbers on the global PC market have been released, and aren't as bad as many had feared. While shipments did fall, they had been expected to drop by 5.3%, but came in only down 4.4%, at 73.4 million units in the first quarter.
In this segment from Friday's Tech Teardown, host Erin Kennedy and Motley Fool tech and telecom bureau chief Evan Niu discuss where the weakness was concentrated geographically, and which PC vendors are currently at the head of the pack. Microsoft (MSFT -0.91%) ending its support for its Windows XP operating system has also been seen as pushing a number of consumers and organizations to upgrade over the past quarter, to transition to a PC running a supported operating system. Japan also saw an increase to its value added tax, or VAT, from 5% to 8% in April, so many Japanese consumers may also have jumped to upgrade ahead of that event.
Evan also takes a look ahead, beyond the Windows XP catalyst, to where the PC market is heading in the future. While he does see the PC market stabilizing, he isn't optimistic about future growth, as tablets continue to edge out the PC as consumers' preferred device.
