Decline in sales in emerging markets pulled down global PC shipments marginally to 79.4 million units in the third quarter of 2014, research firm Gartner said today.
The shipment declined 0.5 per cent from 79.79 million units in the July-September 2013 quarter, according to preliminary results by Gartner.
"Growth in the mature markets was offset by a decline in shipments in emerging markets, similar to what was seen in the second quarter of 2014. Positive results in Western Europe and North America can be a sign of gradual recovery for the PC industry," Gartner Principal Analyst Mikako Kitagawa said.
Lenovo led the market with 19.8 per cent share, followed by HP (17.9 per cent), Dell (12.8 per cent) and Acer (8.6 per cent).
"Consumers' attention is slowly going back to PC purchases as tablet adoption peaked with mainstream consumers. The transition from PCs to tablets has faded as tablet penetration has reached the 40-50 per cent range," Kitagawa said.
In contrast, weakness in the emerging market reflects the saturation in selected consumer segments where they can afford PCs.
"In the meantime, consumers who don't have PCs will likely buy low priced tablet. This is a one of the major reasons for the slow growth in PC shipments in the emerging market," Kitagawa said.
In the US market, PC shipments totalled 16.6 million units in the third quarter of 2014, a 4.2 per cent increase from the same period last year. This was the third quarter in a row with positive shipment growth.
PC shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) totalled 24 million units in the third quarter of 2014, a 9.1 per cent increase from the same period last year. After two years of declining quarterly market share, the EMEA PC market has recorded growth every quarter since the start of 2014.
In Asia Pacific, PC shipments surpassed 26.2 million units in the third quarter of 2014, a 5.3 per cent decline from the third quarter of 2013.
The market remained challenging, especially in China where the PC purchasing appetite has slowed due to more pragmatic consumer and government IT spending, Gartner said.
Business desk-based PC demand has been steady, suggesting a continuing replacement cycle due to the end of Windows XP support, it added.
