So far fourth quarter to the first half of 2016 as most PC demand in the fourth quarter comes from price-cut promotions. In fact it appears the only people making money out of PCs is Apple, and that is because its margins are too high to fail.

According to sources in the Far East, inexpensive Windows 7 PCs are the main selling force in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia. So far, Windows 10 has not yet been able to create a PC replacement trend in the market.

In fact it looks like the PC shipment growth in the third quarter was mainly because of brand vendors refilling their channel inventory rather than any real sales push.

While they are not exactly PCs, vendors have turned to push niche products such as Chromebooks, 2-in-1 devices, gaming PCs, mini PCs and ultrabooks to prevent having to sell their children for medical experiments. However Digitimes analysts think that even these are expected to fall by about four percent in the next quarter so doom is still with us 

Demand for PCs is expected to stay weak, the industry is unlikely to see any major recovery in the first half of 2016, Digitimes thinks.