PC prices to rise by 10 per cent just as Microsoft launches Windows 10 - Gartner

PC prices to rise just before the launch of Microsoft Windows 10 and Intel's 14-nanometre 'Broadwell' microprocessors

PC and laptop prices are set to rise by up to 10 per cent in 2015, largely due to currency fluctuations, according to Gartner. The price increases coincide with the expected launch of Windows 10 by Microsoft at the end of July, and a new generation of Intel microprocessors before the autumn - the kind of a combination that has in the past helped to cause a spike in PC sales.

"We are currently seeing the sharp appreciation of the dollar against most other currencies reflected in companies' earnings results," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "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."

Gartner expects the price increases - in a fiercely competitive, low-margin market where prices are already rock-bottom - to nevertheless have an impact on consumer and business PC purchasing behaviour.

"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," said Atwal. "However, vendors' margins will fall, even as they shift their shipment focus to the regions least affected by these currency effects."

In mature markets, claims Gartner, PC sales are largely determined by price. While the majority of customers will pay extra for the PC they want, the analyst group expects that some 30 per cent of PC consumers will buy down the price curve. Gartner analysts also expect the following purchasing behaviour by PC buyers:

1. Price-driven consumers (of PCs priced at less than £350) will purchase less expensive PCs with lower specifications to counter price rises. This segment is estimated to be 30 per cent of the market;
2. Value-driven consumers (of PCs priced at £350 to £650) will delay purchases due to rising prices. This segment is around 40 per cent of the market;
3. Feature-driven consumers (of PCs priced at over £650) will extend their PCs' lifetimes by 10 per cent or so to compensate for the higher prices, and absorb the price increases when they do order a new PC. This segment is about 30 per cent of the market.

Businesses, meanwhile, will lengthen still further PC replacement cycles, rather than buy less highly specified machines, and cut peripheral purchases. "While we expect large organisations to cut their PC unit purchases by 20 per cent during 2015, due to price rises, small businesses will behave like value-driven consumers and look to purchase consumer PCs instead," Atwal concluded.

Earlier this year, Digitimes reported that component manufacturers based in Taiwan and China did not expect Windows 10 and the new 14-nanometre process technology Intel microprocessors to cause a significant spike in PC sales - as hoped by PC vendors.