Shipments of PCs to Europe in April were 20% lower in volume than originally expected, signaling that PC demand in Europe is worse than originally estimated, the sources said. Lower than expected shipments in May so far have further worried PC vendors, the sources indicated.

Traditionally there are two peak sales periods for PC distributors and retail channels in the Europe market, one is the end of the third quarter when students replace their PCs before the new semester, the other is the shopping period beginning the end of October and ending before the holiday season, the sources noted.