Lenovo has retained the global PC market lead, ahead of rivals HP, Dell, Apple and ASUS during the first quarter of 2016.
PC shipments fell 9.6 percent to 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016, according to Gartner Inc.
IDC said PC shipments dropped 11.5 percent to 60.6 million units. The IDC report said Windows 10 enterprise upgrades remained in pilot phase while consumer demand remains weak. The volatility in stocks, commodities and currencies also helped depress shipments.
“In the short term, the PC market must still grapple with limited consumer interest and competition from other infrastructure upgrades in the commercial market,” said Jay Chou, research manager, IDC Worldwide PC Tracker.
“The deterioration of local currencies against the U.S. collar continued to play a major role in PC shipment declines. Our early results also show there was an inventory buildup from holiday sales in the fourth quarter of 2015,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
All major regions showed PC shipment declines, with Latin America showing the steepest drop, where PC shipments declined 32.4 percent. The Latin America PC market was intensely impacted by Brazil where the economy and political instability adversely affect the market.
The priority for new households, especially in emerging markets, is smartphones. Gartner analysts said the Windows 10 refresh is expected to start toward the end of 2016 in the business segment.
Top PC makers
IDC said Lenovo maintained its top global rank for the quarter with U.S. growth in excess of 20 percent. However, the company faced a challenging quarter in all other markets with international shipments declining 12.5 percent from the prior year, bringing total worldwide volume down 8.5 percent.
HP Inc. remained the number 2 vendor as it navigated its separation from HP Enterprise during the quarter. The company struggled with some inventory issues in North America and a continued slow market in Latin America, with total PC shipments declining nearly 11 percent.
Dell remained the number 3 vendor, outperforming the market with a decline of just 2 percent, and also pulled to the lead in the United States market. Strong shipments of notebook PCs helped the vendor achieve the best quarter among the top 5 vendors.
Apple took the fourth spot worldwide and continued to outperform the market, thanks to solid growth in North America.
ASUS declined 8.3 percent and dropped to the number 5 position. North America still saw decent uptake, but the vendor faced challenges elsewhere, especially EMEA.
Baburajan K
[email protected]
