Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 7.7% In Q3 Of 2015

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 73.7 million units in the third quarter of 2015, a 7.7 percent decline from the third quarter of 2014, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. Desktop PCs continued to show weakness with a high-single-digit decline, while the segment that combines notebook PCs and premium ultramobiles (such as the MacBook Air and Microsoft Surface Pro) recorded a low-single-digit decline.

“The global PC market has experienced price increases of around 10 percent throughout the year, due to the sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar against local currencies. In the third quarter of 2015, this continued to be a major cause for weaker demand in those regions,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “These impacted regions, which include EMEA, Japan and Latin America, posted double-digit declines in the third quarter. Asia/Pacific and the U.S. were more stable.”

According to Garnter Windows 10 launch had minimal impact in the PC market. The Windows 10 rollout will ramp up in 4Q15 holiday sales. Gartner also revealed that they saw positive growth in U.S notebook and premium ultramobile shipments.

“This change in consumer preferences toward PCs was visible in the preliminary data, as we saw positive growth in U.S notebook and premium ultramobile shipments,” Ms. Kitagawa said. “Soft recovery is expected to start in 4Q15, as Windows 10 product refreshes start to appear. In the meantime, PC manufacturers should adjust configurations for 2016 without the impact of price hikes seen in 2015, which will lead into more stable market conditions in the upcoming year.”

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q15 (Thousands of Units)

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 17 million units in the third quarter of 2015, a 1.3 percent increase from the same period last year (see Table 2). Similar to worldwide market trends, the U.S. market experienced growth in notebooks and premium ultramobiles, which was offset by desktop PC shipment declines.

HP maintained the top position in the U.S. market, accounting for 27.8 percent of PC shipments. Lenovo showed the strongest growth among the top five vendors in the U.S. market, as its PC shipments grew 22 percent, due to its strong hybrid growth.

Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q15 (Thousands of Units)

Pc Sales are expected to go next quarter as along with Microsoft, Windows OEMs are releasing many attractive PCs for this holiday season.