WASHINGTON: Worldwide PC shipments totaled 75.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, an 8.3% year-over-year decline, according to preliminary results by Gartner. For the year, 2015 PC shipments totaled 288.7 million units, an 8% decline from 2014.
“The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Holiday sales did not boost the overall PC shipments, hinting at changes to consumers’ PC purchase behavior.”
Kitagawa said all regions registered a decrease in shipments. Currency devaluation issues continued to impact EMEA, Latin America and Japan — which collectively saw their markets reduced by nearly 10% in 2015.
Gartner’s outlook for PC shipments in 2016 is for a decline of 1% compared with 2015, with the potential for a soft recovery in late 2016. Kitagawa said the PC market is still in the middle of structural change which will reduce the PC installed base in the next few years.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, Lenovo registered a worldwide PC shipment decline for the third consecutive quarter. However, Lenovo declined less than the industry average, and it extended its lead in the market. Lenovo accounted for 20% of worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The Asia-Pacific PC market reached 26 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 1.5% decline from the fourth quarter of 2014. Buyers did not rush to replace with newer PC models with Windows 10.
PC vendors looked for profitability over shipment volume, focusing on segments such as gaming PCs; bundling of desktops with large monitor screens and ultramobile device models. Preliminary results indicate that the China PC market declined 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with a year ago.
