PC market better than expected: IDC report

The global PC market has recently shown dreary results, but it still managed to do better than expected.

Earlier in June, the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted a 6 percent decline in PC shipments, which they corrected to 3.7 percent on Wednesday. IDC now expects PC makers to ship 303 million units this year, down from last year's 315 million.

Business spending is still the main market driver, but IDC said its revision was based on upgrades after the end of support for Windows XP, growing sales of Chromebooks in the education sector, and declining competition from large tablets.

IDC senior research analyst, Jay Chou said in a release that programs to reduce PC prices, such as Windows 8.1 with Bing, have helped to improve PC shipments in some segments.

He added that the market has seen a quickened pace of innovation and a focus on price points, Nevertheless, the prospects for significant PC growth in the long term remain tenuous, as users increasingly see PCs as only one of several computing devices.