The latest Gartner report has revealed the performance of PC market vendors during the first-quarter of 2025.
Worldwide PC shipments reached 59 million units in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 4.8 percent increase from the same period in 2024.
This growth, according to Rishi Padhi, Research Principal at Gartner, was influenced by strategic vendor behavior and region-specific developments. A key factor behind the global increase was the proactive inventory buildup by PC vendors in the U.S., who sought to get ahead of potential new tariffs.
This preemptive move led to a substantial 12.6 percent year-over-year growth in U.S. PC shipments, pushing volumes to 16 million units. Although this shipment surge contributed significantly to overall market growth, actual end-user demand remained relatively cautious. Enterprises upgrading systems in preparation for Windows 11 did provide some momentum, but it was not the sole driver.
In contrast, Japan’s PC market showed a more organic demand increase, growing by 15.6 percent due to business upgrades driven by Windows 11 and a growing shift toward Chromebooks.
Japanese vendors also benefitted from the GIGA education initiative, which offered schools the opportunity to replace outdated Chromebooks. By leveraging this government-supported program, vendors managed to sustain demand and support shipment volumes through well-timed upgrade offers.
Globally, vendor rankings remained consistent with the previous year, but individual growth rates varied.
In the first quarter of 2025, Lenovo led the PC market with a 25.9 percent share, slightly up from 24.8 percent in the same quarter of 2024. Lenovo led the market with the highest shipment growth of 9.6 percent, reinforcing its leadership position.
HP followed, showing a 5.9 percent growth. HP Inc. maintained its second position with a 21.6 percent share, a minor increase from 21.4 percent the previous year.
Apple and Dell showed moderate growth at 7.0 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
Dell Technologies experienced a slight drop in market share, moving from 16.7 percent to 16.3 percent.
Apple’s market share rose modestly from 9.9 percent to 10.1 percent.
Acer saw a small decline in share from 6.7 percent to 6.5 percent. Acer, while still maintaining its position among the top six, posted the slowest growth at 1.9 percent.
ASUS also stood out with a strong 9.1 percent growth rate. ASUS increased slightly from 6.1 percent to 6.3 percent.
The combined share of all other manufacturers decreased from 14.5 percent to 13.2 percent.
Overall, strategic responses to regional factors, especially in response to regulatory changes and OS upgrades, played a major role in driving PC market expansion in early 2025.
InfotechLead.com News Desk
