Dell, Apple Among Leaders in Business IT Spending

The outlook for U.S. business IT spending remains positive despite an anticipated pullback in third-quarter buying plans.

That’s according to 451 Research’s latest corporate survey, which included 1,319 respondents who are involved with IT spending in their organizations. The survey also focused on corporate demand for smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Dell is the front-runner in third-quarter PC buying, but corporate desktop and laptop demand are at historically low levels. Also, Apple maintains a big lead over the competition for third-quarter smartphone demand, although it is seeing a slight down-tick.

Seventeen percent of respondents report their company’s IT spending will increase during the third quarter, down four points from the February survey. Another 16 percent said their IT spending will decrease, or there will be no spending at all – two points down from previously.

Business IT spending is down, but that’s coming off the best growth rate in the past five years, according to 451. Moreover, these are the second-best overall spending levels of the past two years.

Of the 10 IT spending categories tracked in this survey, storage registered the biggest increase.

Despite the dip in overall spending, nearly half of respondents said their company is giving a “green light” to spend money on IT products and services, two points improved from February to its highest level in nine years. Another 44 percent said their company has a “yellow/red light” to spend on IT, unchanged from previously.

IT budgets are becoming less sensitive to global economic conditions, as just 5 percent now said they will be decreasing next quarter’s budget due to global economic conditions, two points lower than last quarter and eight points lower compared to a year ago.

Corporate smartphone buying is down to a nine-year low after a slight uptick in the previous quarter. Samsung, which recently launched the Galaxy S8 handsets, is registering a slight downtick in third-quarter demand.

Tablet buying is down once again, matching demand levels back in 2011. But iPad buying is seeing an uptick within this weakened market. The newly released 9.7” iPad leads among planned buyers, with iPad Pro models close behind. Microsoft and Samsung are seeing slight upticks in demand as well.