Desktop PC Shipments Dip Below 100m/Year (theregister.co.uk)

Desktop PC shipments dipped below 100 million in 2017 and there's worse to come across the personal computing device market according to analyst firm IDC. From a report: The company on Wednesday published a summary of its Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker for 2017's final quarter in which it totted up shipments for the year across all forms of PC and slate-style tablets. The headline figure was a 2.7 per cent year-over-year decline. The firm said "commercial PC renewal momentum remained as the main catalyst in a market that was also tempered by lackluster demand for legacy form factor devices and component shortages." There was a little good news in 2017 with growth in notebook sales, as they grew more strongly than in any year since 2012, but the overall picture was poor.

Comments

Speculation:

[thegreatbob]

Perhaps demand will recover when the VR software/hardware makes it to the far side of the uncanny valley? Or does somebody have a better term to encompass all of the latent issues with existing VR systems? I feel like it's one of the few consumer-oriented concepts that might actually require beefy, customizable hardware for people who aren't natively tinkerers/hobbyists/hardcore gamers. Any other systems/concepts out there that might be a decent driver of sales in the future?