A new report by consultancy Jon Peddie Research shows that Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) were the big winners of the last quarter with both companies posting double-digit increases in market share.

The third quarter of the year is considered the most important for sales, as historically its the time when companies see their biggest growth.

According to a release by JPR, Intel’s total shipments increased 11.6% from last quarter, and Nvidia’s jumped 12.9%. AMD’s (NYSE: AMD) overall shipments decreased 7%. Breaking down the numbers, Intel’s shipments increased 18.6% in notebooks and 11.6% in PC graphics. Nvidia’s desktop discrete shipments increased 24.3% from last quarter while its notebook discrete shipments increased 3.5%. Overall, its PC graphics shipments increased 12.9%.

Year-over-year both AMD and Nvidia’s overall PC shipments decreased, with AMD experiencing a 24% fall and Nvidia a shrinkage of 4%. Intel increased its PC shipments by 19%. Discrete GPU shipments increased 6.6% compared to the last quarter, and decreased 7.7% from last year.

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Indian e-commerce industry is on the growth trajectory, with several retailers getting a massive influx of revenues. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos is in the country to chart further growth for Amazon’s Indian outfit, and there have been significant investments over the course of the year in other major e-commerce stores like Flipkart.

However, it looks like there will be a major change in the mobile segment as it was revealed earlier this month that Samsung (KRX:005935) is mulling a move to an offline-only business model. Such a model does not make much sense considering that e-commerce stores offer better deals and discounts to users, but it is believed that several brick and mortar retailers across the country have largely contributed to Samsung’s decision to go offline.

The bid to go offline

There have been significant rumblings in the offline distribution channels over the course of the year as brick and mortar stores have seen their customer base dwindle due to the rise of the e-commerce stores. Several retailers have been vehement in stating that they would refuse to carry Samsung products unless the manufacturer decides to offer them exclusively online. The main reason why retailers are so worried about e-commerce sites is that there isn’t any method to control the prices. For instance, the Galaxy S5 price online in India is $575 (Rs. 35,400) whereas in an offline store it is in the vicinity of $633 (Rs. 39,000).

This led to the creation of a union of sorts called the All India Mobile Retailers Association, which is the coalition of brick and mortar stores from across the country. The stores have banded together to ensure that the price hygiene – the price of a handset across cities and states – stays fixed. Samsung’s incentive in going offline is that it can retain a healthy margin, which an executive has said has dwindled to single digits due to low pricing from e-commerce stores. Samsung met with AIMRA members in New Delhi last month to discuss the move to go offline, and while the South Korean manufacturer hasn’t offered a statement confirming the decision, it is looking likely that its upcoming products like the Galaxy Note 4 will be available only through brick and mortar stores.

The move does not mean that Samsung will cease to sell all products online, as the manufacturer has stated that it will look to offer exclusive deals to e-commerce stores in selling select devices. For instance, the Galaxy K Zoom is available exclusively via Amazon in the country. However, it is unlikely that devices in the Galaxy Note line will be available online in the future. Another contributor must also have been effective pricing: Samsung wants more control on setting the prices on its devices, which it does not have online. By going offline, Samsung can assert more control in terms of pricing its handsets and setting limits on the amount of discounts retailers can offer. We may see this sooner rather than later as the Galaxy Note 4 price in India is claimed to be in the vicinity of around $894 (Rs. 55,000), which is very similar to what the price of the iPhone 6 Plus is rumored to be in the country.

Oddly enough, Samsung isn’t the only one who would be following an offline-only model in the country. Chinese vendor Gionee also sells its handsets exclusively through offline channels in the country, and was quick to quote that it was able to sell 5 million handsets this year. Gionee is making significant inroads into the Indian market by advertising aggressively and maintaining a strong presence at brick and mortar stores.

Samsung doesn’t need to worry about market presence, as its wares are constantly featured in advertisements and billboards. With a total of 48 devices available to consumers across all price segment in the country, the manufacturer offers an abundance of choice. What customers don’t get with Samsung is great value for money, which sums up why the manufacturer is thinking of shifting to an offline-only strategy in the first place.

Turbulent times for Samsung

Although Samsung was the largest handset vendor in the country in 2013, it lost its position to Micromax this year. A combination of lackluster device launches combined with high pricing has led to the South Korean vendor’s shift in fortunes. With the introduction of Motorola’s Moto G, Moto X and the Nexus 5, and the more recent entry of devices like the Xiaomi Mi 3 has meant that Indian consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to handsets that offer a great set of features at an affordable price. Samsung not only lost out in the mid-tier segment this year, but also in the high-end category as the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 failed to meet the vendor’s sales targets.

Xiaomi has been highly successful in generating a lot of attention for its handsets thanks to its unique flash sale model, which has seen over 40,000 devices being sold in under five seconds. Xiaomi’s devices were also in great demand as the manufacturer was offering hardware that was available for a third of what Samsung was charging.

More recently, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) made its move into the entry-level segment with the announcement of Android One, which will serve to further consolidate the market share of local vendors in the country. Samsung is noticeably absent from the list of Android One vendors, and while the manufacturer is set to launch its own offering that targets this segment, it is unlikely it will match what the Android One handsets offer, both in terms of hardware as well as software features.

With the handset vendor losing ground in India as well as other global markets in light of stiffer competition, it remains to be seen whether a move to offline-only sales is a smart choice in the long run. For now, however, it is looking likely that consumers in India have to head to a brick and mortar store if they want to get their hands on a Galaxy Note 4.

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According to Jon Peddie’s latest GPU marketshare numbers for Q1 2014, the add-in board market shrunk 0.8% year over year and a more expected 6.7% quarter over quarter. Most people expect GPU seasonality between Q1 and Q4 regardless of what year it is, but the 0.8% decrease year over year is still an indication of basically flat growth/slight shrinkage. Even though, this is significantly less than in laptops and the overall PC business in terms of shrinkage. for the GPU market as a whole, shipments were down 11.6% quarter-to-quarter, and down 4% compared to the same quarter last year. This is clearly a lot worse than what we’re seeing from the discrete add-in board market.

Additionally, much like we saw in laptop and desktop graphics, the add-in board market saw the complete elimination of two minuscule competitors and their market share. According to Jon Peddie Research’s estimates, the GPU market for add-in boards is now between AMD and Nvidia GPU, period. However, Nvidia was able to maintain their 65% market share over AMD’s 35% marketshare, meaning that over the course of the last quarter both companies effectively sold at the same rate as another, contrary to what some might lead you to believe. Total shipments decreased this quarter to 14 million units with both AMD and Nvidia reporting quarter to quarter shipments decreasing 6.6%.

This is still better, however than the 9% reduction seen in the overall PC market, indicating that desktop GPUs with add-in cards and add-in card sales overall are far less impacted by the shrinkage of the PC market than some analysts would lead people to believe.  However, GPUs are usually a pretty good indicator of future growth since many of these cards have to be purchased prior to their integration, which means that most PC vendors will likely see a fairly flat growth for the next quarter, which is basically in line with most predictions of PC shipments.

The post Desktop GPUs Shrunk in Q1, Nvidia Held Marketshare appeared first on VR World.

According to Jon Peddie’s latest GPU marketshare numbers for Q1 2014, the add-in board market shrunk 0.8% year over year and a more expected 6.7% quarter over quarter. Most people expect GPU seasonality between Q1 and Q4 regardless of what year it is, but the 0.8% decrease year over year is still an indication of basically flat growth/slight shrinkage. Even though, this is significantly less than in laptops and the overall PC business in terms of shrinkage. for the GPU market as a whole, shipments were down 11.6% quarter-to-quarter, and down 4% compared to the same quarter last year. This is clearly a lot worse than what we’re seeing from the discrete add-in board market.

Additionally, much like we saw in laptop and desktop graphics, the add-in board market saw the complete elimination of two minuscule competitors and their market share. According to Jon Peddie Research’s estimates, the GPU market for add-in boards is now between AMD and Nvidia GPU, period. However, Nvidia was able to maintain their 65% market share over AMD’s 35% marketshare, meaning that over the course of the last quarter both companies effectively sold at the same rate as another, contrary to what some might lead you to believe. Total shipments decreased this quarter to 14 million units with both AMD and Nvidia reporting quarter to quarter shipments decreasing 6.6%.

This is still better, however than the 9% reduction seen in the overall PC market, indicating that desktop GPUs with add-in cards and add-in card sales overall are far less impacted by the shrinkage of the PC market than some analysts would lead people to believe.  However, GPUs are usually a pretty good indicator of future growth since many of these cards have to be purchased prior to their integration, which means that most PC vendors will likely see a fairly flat growth for the next quarter, which is basically in line with most predictions of PC shipments.

The post Desktop GPUs Shrunk in Q1, Nvidia Held Marketshare appeared first on VR World.