Dive Brief:
- A Japanese media report claims Toshiba, Fujitsu and Vaio may be considering a merger of their laptop businesses.
- According to IDC, PC shipments dropped 11% year over year to 71 million units in the third quarter.
- Weakness in the domestic Japanese market is also affecting Toshiba, Vaio and Fujitsu, according to an IDC analyst.
Dive Insight:
Japan’s Nikkei financial newspaper said the three companies will begin specific discussions on the merger later this month.
"We’re entering a phase in the PC industry where we are expecting some consolidation to happen," said Linn Huang, an analyst with IDC, who added that price competition is making things even more difficult for PC makers.
Huang said Toshiba, Fujitsu and Vaio are all focused on the consumer market, where demand has been weakest. The current leaders in the laptop market, Lenovo, Dell, HP and Apple, have been focusing more on enterprise laptop sales, where demand has been stronger.
