Analyst firm Gartner said PC shipments dipped 3.6 percent to 67 million units in the third quarter of 2017.
This is the 12th consecutive quarter of declining PC shipments.
IDC said shipments of PCs including desktop, notebook and workstation fell 0.5 percent to 67.2 million units in the third quarter of 2017.
The global PC market is demonstrating the trend of stabilization in recent quarters. Improvement in emerging markets as well as back-to-school promotions helped boost results.
IDC said the PC component shortages have improved and did not factor as a significant hindrance to production volumes. Higher component prices and inventory in some markets limited PC shipments.
“While there were signs of stabilization in the PC industry in key regions, including EMEA, Japan and Latin America, the relatively stable results were offset by the U.S. market, which saw 10 percent drop in part because of a very weak back-to-school sales season,” said Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
Business PC demand was led by Windows 10 upgrades. The countries with stable economies, such as the U.S., have created a positive sentiment among businesses, especially for small and midsized businesses (SMBs).
Loren Loverde, program vice president, Worldwide PCD Trackers at IDC said emerging IT markets rebounded slightly more than anticipated, but overall results reflect the stabilization we expected following component and inventory adjustments.
Gartner said DRAM shortages are getting worse during the third quarter of the year compared with the first half of 2017.
“The component price hike impacted the consumer PC market as most vendors generally pass the price hike on to consumers, rather than absorbing the cost themselves,” Mika Kitagawa of Gartner said.
DRAM shortage will continue to the end of 2018, but it will not be reflected in the final PC prices immediately.
PC vendors
Gartner said HP Inc. and Lenovo were in a virtual tie for the top spot in the PC market based on shipments.
HP Inc. is in an upward trend, as it has experienced five consecutive quarter of global PC growth, while Lenovo is in a downward trend with declining shipments in eight of the last 10 quarters.
HP Inc. experienced growth in all key regions, except the U.S. market. HP posted double-digit growth in Latin America and secured positive growth for the fifth consecutive quarter in Asia Pacific.
Lenovo experienced its steepest year-over-year decline of PC shipments in the U.S. since it acquired the IBM PC business division in 2005. Lenovo continues to face the dilemma of market share gains versus profitability.
Dell’s PC shipments were slightly down compared with a year ago, as it registered its first year-over-year shipment decline since the first quarter of 2016.
IDC said HP Inc. retained the top spot and further lengthened its lead with nearly 23 percent share of the market, helped in part by major wins in Asia Pacific. HP was the only top PC vendor to manage a notable shipment increase with growth of 6 percent on the year.
Lenovo held the second position with volume holding flat at 0.1 percent growth. The Chinese PC company continued to struggle in North America, with weak notebook sales, but also seemed to have slowed its recent decline in Asia Pacific.
Dell remained in the third position with growth of 0.8 percent. Dell fared well internationally, but saw declining volume in North America.
Apple kept the fourth position, keeping shipments roughly flat with growth of 0.3 percent year over year.
ASUS retained the fifth position, but was the only company in the top 5 to decline faster than the market average.
