The PC market started off 2016 with a dampened sentiment, with first-quarter sales at a decade low, according to Gartner and IDC estimates.
Preliminary data from Gartner peg total worldwide PC shipments at 64.8 million units, 9.6 percent down from Q1 2015 figures and the first time since 2007 that sales volume fell below the 65 million mark.
IDC estimates for the same period differ slightly, with total shipments of 60.6 million PC units and a decline of 11.5 percent.
According to Gartner, the top five vendors worldwide are Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus and Apple. Lenovo outstripped HP as the top PC vendor globally, but only Asus and Apple posted positive growth. These five vendors took a 66.4 percent market share while 33.6 percent went to other vendors.
The U.S. market saw more than 13 million units sold, with Dell leading the vendors and taking a 26.3 percent market share. HP followed with a 23.7 percent share; Lenovo with 14.5 percent; Apple with 12.7 percent; Asus with 5.1 percent; and other vendors with 17.8 percent.
Both Gartner and IDC agree that weakening currencies against the U.S. dollar and a volatile global economy contributed to the continuing PC shipment decline.
Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that all major regions, including developing and developed economies, showed year-over-year decline. Latin America experienced the steepest drop because of political instability, low oil prices and the problematic Brazilian economy.
A Shade of Hope
Consumer sentiment toward PCs also remains to be a challenge as shoppers are taking some time to respond to new OS, upgrades and hardware configurations that come with Windows 10. Households are not adopting PCs the way they used to, particularly in developing economies where smartphones rule.
Jay Chou, IDC research manager, said that the PC market may still see improvement.
"In the short term, the PC market must still grapple with limited consumer interest and competition from other infrastructure upgrades in the commercial market," Chou said. "Nevertheless, IDC still projects total business IT spending to grow compared to 2015, and as we head toward the end of 2016, things should start picking up in terms of Windows 10 pilots turning into actual PC purchases."
