Text / editor in charge of Tang Zhixiao / editor of Gao Mengyang / Liang Youyun
After TWS earphone and mobile phone industry, the supply chain of PC industry also has a “cutting trend”. At present, most brands do not comment on the phenomenon of cutting orders in the supply chain.
According to the analysis of insiders, the shipment volume of PC products in the comprehensive international environment is not as expected, which is the main reason for the brand to cut orders.
However, most of the adjusted product lines are medium and low-end entry PCs, while higher priced commercial PCs and e-sports game books are less affected.
Recently, when visiting offline PC stores in Beijing, the reporter found that the passenger flow was scarce, and the stores recommended consumers to buy E-sports books with strong game performance. On the one hand, this may be related to the higher profit margin of E-sports; On the other hand, it is not ruled out that in order to clear the inventory, it is possible to pave the way for game E-sports products that will be listed in the second half of the year and equipped with a new GPU platform.
The store is deserted
The clerk recommended “game book”
After learning about the reporter’s demand for notebook computers, the clerk at ASUS counter said: “I prefer this 2020 ice blade series. Although it still uses (NVIDIA) 20 series graphics card, its performance is enough to meet your needs. This is also the best one sold here.”
Although it has entered the first quarter of 2022, the 20 series and 30 series products on the market still occupy the mainstream because NVIDIA 40 Series graphics cards have not been launched yet.
Compared with office books and all-round books, the clerk recommends game books: “unless you have more mobile office needs, I recommend you to buy game books. Game entertainment and video editing are better.”
Insiders pointed out that the unit price of game book is higher than that of medium and low-end office book, and the group order volume of single products such as office book is larger, and the profit of single machine is not as good as that of game book.
To some extent, the change of sales strategy of store clerks also shows that PC products are changing from “volume” to “high customer unit price”. This can be seen from the feedback of the supply chain as early as April.
Cut orders for medium and low-end production lines
Commercial and gaming PCs are less affected
According to the news of supply chain, almost all first-line PC brands have begun to reduce their annual shipment targets recently, with an average reduction of more than 20 points, including Lenovo, HP, Acer and ASUS.
According to the analysis of market participants, although the brand side began to inform suppliers to reduce the annual shipment target in the second quarter, due to the shipment of some previous deferred orders, Hyundai factory was not bearish in the second quarter, but was not sure of the shipment in the second half of the year.
“In the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, due to the unsmooth supply of parts, the continuous shortage of cabinets and port congestion in Shanghai transportation, and the terminal channel inventory has not yet reached the ideal, many PC brand factories dare not cut orders rashly,” said an industry insider close to the supply chain, “However, with the war between Russia and Ukraine at the end of February, the high rise of crude oil prices further pushed up the pressure of global inflation, and the brand side had to consider reducing the demand of the European market this year.”
In this regard, the reporter sought confirmation from a number of brands, of which ASUS and Acer did not comment. Lenovo did not directly reply to reporters, but threw out News quoted from other media, indicating that its orders in Hefei factory had not been reduced.
Sources close to Lenovo Hefei factory, the world’s largest PC production base, said that the factory is still heavy orders and actively rush to buy parts. Lenovo has strong growth in game and other segments, and commercial PCs are also bullish on annual shipments. At present, there is no plan to cut orders and repair shipments.
HP told reporters that it is optimistic about the development of personal computers: “compared with two years ago, the total amount of global target markets has expanded by more than 200 billion US dollars. The revenue of HP’s global personal information system business increased by 15% in the first quarter.”
According to canalys data, in the first quarter of 2022, global PC (including tablet) shipments fell by 3% to 118.1 million units. Chromebooks fell 60% from the first quarter of 2021 to 4.9 million.
Insiders pointed out that most of the adjustments made by the brand side are the medium and low-end product lines with slightly lower prices, while the commercial product lines and E-sports product lines with higher prices are less affected.
This is mainly because NVIDIA and Intel will launch a new GPU platform and independent graphics card for e-sports game books in the second half of the year, which will play a positive role in the shipment of e-sports game books.