Prices of PCs will rise by up to 10 per cent in 2015: Gartner
This might affect the Europe and Japan regions most, according to Gartner research director, Ranjit Atwal.
"We are currently seeing the sharp appreciation of the dollar against most other currencies reflected in companies' earnings results. PC vendors selling to Europe and Japan, where local currencies have fallen up to 20 per cent since the start of 2015, have little choice than to raise prices to preserve profits," he mentioned.
He also said device vendors will mitigate the impact of their declining "dollarised" profits by taking advantage of single-digit-percentage decreases in PC component costs during 2015, and by selling PCs with fewer features to keep prices down.
However, vendors' margins will fall, even as they shift their shipment focus to the regions least affected by these currency effects.
As for business take-up of PCs, Gartner indicated in 2015, large businesses will prioritise other IT budgets with currency-driven shortfalls, such as those for software and services, for which they will draw money from the PC budget.
"Large organisations will look to lengthen their PC lifetimes by six months in comparison to 2014, rather than buying less expensive models or removing requirements for key features. In addition, purchases of optical drives and optional accessories will disappear," Atwal said.
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However, he added that while it's expected of large organisations to cut their PC unit purchases by 20 per cent in 2015, due to price rises, small businesses will behave like value-driven consumers and look to purchase consumer PCs instead.
Gartner expects that 30 per cent of PC consumers will buy down the price curve.
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