Sluggish prospects in the desktop PC market may drive down global shipments to single-digit growth in 2005, according to a new Gartner study. The market research firm's preliminary projections indicate that shipments this year will be around 199 million units, only a nine per cent rise from the 183 million PCs sold in 2004. The segment had grown by 11.6 per cent in 2004, compared with the previous year. The deceleration can be traced to the petering out of replacement cycles for both corporate and home PCs, Gartner said.
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