The PC market is cratering again after a brief reprieve
The PC market has gone back into a steep slide, just as Microsoft prepares to release Windows 10.
PC sales started a steep decline in 2012, according to Gartner statistics compiled by Statista. However, in 2014 things picked up a bit, mainly because Microsoft said it would stop issuing security patches to the 13-year-old Windows XP in April 2014. That meant that businesses still running Windows XP would either need to buy a new version of Windows - and, in nearly all cases, a new PC to run it on - or risk having insecure and unpatchable PCs.
That upgrade cycle is over now. And the PC market is back in free fall - sales dropped more than 9% last quarter from the previous year. Windows 10 won't help much, either, analysts think, as most current PC users will be able to upgrade to the new operating system without buying a new computer.
