“While the worldwide PC market stopped two years of declining shipments in the second quarter, there were mixed results, as stabilization in developed markets was offset by a decline in emerging markets,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst, Gartner. “The PC industry in emerging markets has been impacted by the allure of low-cost tablets. These low-cost tablets continue to take spending from new PC units, meaning that it will take more time for PC sales to stabilize in emerging markets.
“The PC market's installed based has been declining as buyers switched to tablets and smartphones for entertainment and social media consumption. The 2Q14 results suggest that the consumer installed base restructuring peaked during 2013. We are seeing a slowdown in premium tablet sales, which have already penetrated a large number of households. PCs are now growing off a smaller installed base of newer devices, with more engaged users. Therefore, we expect to see slow, but consistent, PC growth. While the end of support for Windows XP drove some of the sales in developed markets, it is the underlying business replacement cycle that will stabilize the market,” he added
Lenovo extended its lead as the leader in worldwide PC shipments, as its worldwide market share increased to 19.2 percent . Lenovo’s PC shipments grew by double-digits in all regions except Asia/Pacific. Lenovo’s shipment growth in Asia/Pacific was still faster than the regional average.
HP came second with 17.7 percent followed by Dell with 13.3 percent and Acer Group with 7.7 percent.
“HP achieved its fastest global PC shipment increase in the last four years. The company has put a lot of effort into restoring its PC business, including the review of the product family and stock keeping units (SKUs), as well as revitalizing the channel partner program. HP did very well in EMEA with 21 percent shipment growth, securing the top spot in the region,” said Kitagawa.
The second quarter of 2014 was the second consecutive quarter of double-digital growth for Dell’s global PC shipments. Dell benefited from strong business PC demand. The company also did particularly well in Asia/Pacific. Dell’s shipments grew in all regions, except Latin America, but Dell’s shipment decline was less than the regional average.
In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments totaled 24.6 million units in the second quarter of 2014, a 9.5 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2013. Despite the decline in shipments, there are some signs of stabilization, with minimal declines and flat growth in mature Asia/Pacific countries and China. “However, the low end of the notebook PC market continues to be challenged by the popularity of phablets and voice connected tablets, especially in smaller cities where some lower income groups prefer a larger screen phone as their only device for communication and access to the Internet.” said Kitagawa.
