Gartner contradicts IDC, says worldwide PC shipments grew 1% in Q4 2014

Worldwide PC shipments in Q4, 2014 grew 1% year-on-year to reach a total of 83.7 million units, according to a latest report from market research firm Gartner, which clearly contradicts a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) report stating that shipments declined 2% year-on-year.

“The PC market is quietly stabilizing after the installed base reduction driven by users diversifying their device portfolios. Installed base PC displacement by tablets peaked in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Now that tablets have mostly penetrated some key markets, consumer spending is slowly shifting back to PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

As for the OEMs, China-based Lenovo held on to its position as the worldwide leader in PC shipments, capturing 19.4% of the market in the quarter. While the company reported strong growth in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), as well as the US, shipments declined in Latin America and Japan.

HP came in at number two, with 18.8% of the market share, up 16% year-on-year. On the other hand, Dell continued to maintain the third position and accounted for 12.7% of the market.

In the US, PC shipments grew 13.1% year-on-year in Q4, 2014, reaching a total of around 18.1 million units. The report notes that this is the fastest growth seen in the market in the last four years.

“The fourth quarter of 2014 was the best holiday for PC sales in recent history. The primary driver was mobile PCs including regular notebooks, thin and light notebooks and 2-in-1s,” said Kitagawa. With 29.2% market share, HP topped the charts in the US, where its shipments grew 26.2% year-on-year.

Source | Via