By Robert McMillan And Josh Beckerman
World-wide shipments of personal computers dropped in the first
quarter compared with a year earlier, the ninth such quarterly
decline since 2012, according to researcher firm Gartner Inc.
Gartner estimated world-wide PC shipments totaled 71.7 million
units, down 5.2% from a year earlier. The Stamford, Conn., firm
said a double-digit percentage decline in desktop sales partly was
offset by a pickup in sales of notebooks, hybrids and Windows
tablets.
The data show the lowest number of PC shipments since the second
quarter of 2009, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said on Thursday.
The PC market has been hit hard as corporations slowed the rate at
which they refresh employee desktops and consumers increasingly
spend their money on tablets and smartphones.
A year ago, Microsoft Corp. stopped supporting its Windows XP
operating system giving desktop PC sales a boost. That triggered a
round of corporate upgrades as companies bought new systems to
continue to qualify for Microsoft support. But this year Gartner
expects PC shipments to continue to slip.
"Right now there is not a strong driver for PC growth," Ms.
Kitagawa said, although the Gartner report added that the recent
decline "is not necessarily a sign of sluggish overall PC sales
long term."
International Data Corp., another research company that reported
quarterly PC sales on Thursday, said world-wide shipments fell a
greater 6.7% to 68.5 million units. The results exceeded its
"cautious" forecast, IDC said, but the market "remains heavily
dependent on pricing being a major driver." The firm added that
demand for higher-priced systems remains "tenuous."
IDC and Gartner's numbers don't match because the two firms
disagree over what constitutes a PC. Gartner's figures include
premium ultramobiles, but not Chromebook notebooks, Windows tablets
with a smaller than 10-inch display or non-Windows tablets. IDC
counts Chromebooks and excludes tablets.
Lenovo Group Ltd. kept the top spot in world-wide shipments,
while Hewlett-Packard Co--in second place globally--extended its
U.S. lead, according to Gartner and IDC. Dell Inc. remained in
third place world-wide.
Asustek Computer Inc. edged ahead of Acer Inc. for the fourth
spot on Gartner's list. Acer kept the fourth spot on IDC's list,
with Asustek surpassing Apple Inc. for fifth place.
Apple finished third in the U.S. on Gartner's list and fourth on
IDC's U.S. list.
Gartner said the overall results "support our projection of a
moderate decline of PC shipments in 2015, which will lead to a
slow, consistent growth stage for the next five years."
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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