Personal computer demand falls by a record amount

Falling global demand for personal computers (PC) saw shipments fall by a record 10.6% in the fourth quarter from a year ago, according to market research firm IDC.

据市场研究公司IDC数据显示，个人电脑（PC）需求下降，引起2015年四季度全球PC出货量下跌10.6%。

About 71.9 million units were shipped in the period, which includes the key Christmas shopping season.

包括圣诞购物季，第四季度电脑出货量共计7190万台。

IDC said the decline was the worst since it started tracking PC shipments.

IDC称，这是自IDC公司开始追踪该数据以来最大的降幅。

PC demand has been hit by competition from smartphones and tablets, along with longer lifecycles for PCs.

个人电脑使用周期延长，再加上智能手机和平板电脑带来的竞争，大大抑制消了消费者对PC的需求。

Shipments fell in all regions around the world and have declined for five quarters in a row, according to IDC’s figures.

据IDC数据，全球各地区的电脑出货量均连续5个季度出现下滑。

Rival research firm Gartner also said shipments were down. Using different methodology, it saw a fall of 8.3% in the fourth quarter from a year ago.

市调机构Gartner报告也显示去年四季度全球市场走跌。由于统计方法不同，去年第四季度的跌幅并未破10%，为8.3%。

Dave Lee, North America Technology Reporter, San Francisco

旧金山北美地区的技术版通讯员Dave Lee 报道:

It doesn’t take much analysis to work out why PC shipments are falling rapidly. I mean, look around you. If you’re at home, what do you have in the corner where your PC used to go?

无需过多分析，你很容易就能明白为何PC出货量会锐减。我是说，看看你的身边。如果你是在家，以前放电脑的位置，现在放的是什么？

Then again, you’re more likely to not be at home. The majority of visitors to this website, and most other major sites and networks, arrive their using their mobile devices.

然而，你更有可能不在家。大多数访问者，使用他们的移动设备访问包括本网页在内的主要网站。

And that leaves the workplace, the domain where PC is still king, and will remain so for a while yet.

那么就只剩下办公场所了，这里PC仍统领天下，且这种局面还将保持一段时间。

Sales tanked in the last quarter, sure, but analysts expect the PC market to pick up again in 2016 as companies start to upgrade to Windows 10 which launched in the middle of last year.

上个季度的销售下滑，没错，但随着企业将启动升级到2015年中发布的Windows 10系统，分析专家预计，PC市场将会在2016年东山再起。

Unlike home users, who could update in a few hours or so, big firms need to plan well ahead - and so many would have held off until the new year.

与家庭用户在几个小时内就可以更新系统不同，大公司需要提前规划——所以有很多公司将升级推迟到新年以后。

It’ll mean a boost for traditional PC sales, but not a halt in their overall long-term decline.

这意味着传统的个人电脑销量将会激增，但从整体长期来看，销量下滑的局面仍将持续。

Instead, IDC notes that sales of computers with detachable tablets, like Microsoft’s Surface, are growing quickly (albeit from an almost standing start).

相反，IDC指出，可拆分的平板电脑，如微软的Surface，销量正在迅速上升（尽管几乎是一个全新的起点）。

Other factors that contributed to the decline in shipments included economic issues such as falling commodity prices, weaker currencies, turmoil in financial markets driven by China, as well social tensions in the Middle East.

推动PC销量下降的其他因素包括经济问题，如商品价格低迷，货币贬值，中国金融市场的动荡，以及中东地区的局势紧张。

Apple’s emergence

苹果的成功

Apple was the only top five PC maker to see shipments grow last year, up over 6%, while Acer saw the biggest fall, of more more than 18%.

五大电脑制造商中，苹果公司是去年唯一一家出货量保持增长的公司，涨幅超6%；宏碁公司则下跌幅度最大，超过18%。

"Consumer sentiment toward PCs remains a challenge, though clearly there are pockets of growth," said IDC research manager Jay Chou in a statement.

IDC公司研究分析经理Jay Chou在一份声明中说，“虽然确实有零星增长，消费者的电脑消费信心仍是一个挑战。”

"Even as mainstream desktop and notebooks see their lifetimes stretched ever longer, Apple’s emergence as a top five global PC vendor in 2015 shows that there can be strong demand for innovative, even premium-priced systems that put user experience first."

“尽管主流的台式机和笔记本电脑的生命周期变得更长，但随着2015年全球五大电脑厂商之一——苹果公司的成功，表明把用户体验放在首位的这种创新性的、高端的需求变得很强烈。”

Chinese tech giant Lenovo, however, remained at the top of the market - owning more than 20% of it. HP followed in second place, with Dell third and Apple and ASUS tied for the fourth spot.

不过，中国的科技巨头联想仍是PC市场的老大——占了市场份额的20%以上。HP和戴尔分别名列第二、第三，苹果和华硕电脑并列第四。（声明：本文为爱语吧原创翻译，转载请注明来源，否则追究法律责任！）

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来源:BBC 新闻爱语吧作者:橙子