Jan-March global PC shipments dip 9.6%; 6th quarterly fall in row

Worldwide personal computer (PC) shipments plunged by 9.6 per cent during January-March 2016 — sixth straight quarterly fall — to 64.8 million units on lower adoption in new households, especially in emerging markets, preliminary results by Gartner showed on Tuesday.

This is the first time since 2007 when shipments have fallen below 65 million units. The PC shipments had totalled 71.68 million in the first quarter of 2015. “Worldwide PC shipments totalled 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016, a 9.6 per cent decline from the first quarter of 2015,” Gartner said.

It added that all major regions showed year-on-year shipment declines, with Latin America showing the steepest drop, where PC shipments declined 32.4 per cent. Gartner said these results are preliminary and final statistics will made be available soon. “The Latin American PC market was intensely impacted by Brazil, where the problematic economy and political instability adversely affected the market,” Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst at Gartner said.

Kitagawa added the ongoing decline in US shipments showed that the installed base is still shrinking, a factor that played across developed economies. Low oil prices drove economic contraction in Latin America and Russia, changing them from drivers of growth to market laggards. Gartner said PCs are not being adopted in new households as they were in the past, especially in emerging markets. Lenovo maintained the number one position in worldwide PC shipments in the reported period.