Global PC Shipments Down 10% in Q1

The personal computer (PC) industry continues to be swamped by the increased use of mobile devices. The trend is great enough that it will not change. According to research firm Gartner, worldwide PC shipments fell 9.6% in the first quarter.

The sales of the largest PC companies were damaged, but not as much as the “other” category, which covers and manufacturers other than Lenovo, HP (not the part that makes PCs), Dell, Asus and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

The Big Three took the most damage among the largest companies. Lenovo sales fell from 13.4 million in the quarter a year ago to 12.5 million in the first quarter. HP dropped from 12.5 million to 11.4 million. Dell sales declined from 9.2 million to 9.1 million.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, commented:

All major regions showed year-over-year shipment declines, with Latin America showing the steepest drop, where PC shipments declined 32.4 percent. The Latin American PC market was intensely impacted by Brazil, where the problematic economy and political instability adversely affected the market. The ongoing decline in U.S. PC 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.

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The entire analysis from Gartner:

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q16 (Thousands of Units)

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premium. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels.