Don’t worry about the recession. Worldwide PC shipments will grow by 12.8 percent in 2008 to hit 302 million units, says IDC. And growth is set to continue in double digits in 2009, though the figure will drop to 11 percent, the research firm says.

Don’t worry about the recession. Worldwide PC shipments will grow by 12.8 percent in 2008 to hit 302 million units, says IDC. And growth is set to continue in double digits in 2009, though the figure will drop to 11 percent, the research firm says.

After that, growth will be in the “high single-digit” range, with annual shipments reaching 426 million units by 2012. Yes, unit prices are likely to fall ­ but that will be offset by the swing to portable PCs, which generally carry higher prices than desktops.

IDC forecasts total value of PC shipments to grow 7.4 percent in 2008 to nearly US$280 billion ­ and this should keep growing at 4 percent a year through 2012, reaching nearly $330 billion in 2012.

Asia-Pacific in particular is going mad for notebook PCs, with increases of more than 50 percent predicted for 2008. That compares with growth of 36pc worldwide.

“The deteriorating economic environment can certainly put a damper on PC growth,” said Loren Loverde, director of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. “However, fourth-quarter growth was the fastest since mid-2005 and we should see continued portable adoption and PC acquisition by both commercial and consumer segments.”