PC Orders Said to See Sharp Drop in Q1; Demand for Apple (AAPL) Products Still Robust

Personal computer (PC) shipments could see a sharp 20 percent sequential drop in Q1 as vendors still work to clear inventories and demand in Europe and emerging economies remains weak.

Digitimes cites upstream suppliers in saying PCs continue to lack innovative features that will draw in consumers, while tablets and smartphones continue to cannibalize sales.

While Lenovo, Dell, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and ASUStek have curbed orders, which were expected to rise following the Chinese Lunar New Year, only Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has kept order on track. MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are still said to be seeing strong demand.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is expected to see a notable impact in its PC unit due to the drop in demand. PC ODMs like Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron, Inventec, and Pegatron Technology are also going to see a dip in Q1 notebook revenue, but orders from Apple should soften the blow.

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