U.S.-based PC vendors HP Inc. and Dell recorded a pleasant bump in sales this quarter, as North American PC shipments increased for the first time since 2014, according to a report released by Gartner on Monday.
Unfortunately Chinese PC giant Lenovo had less to celebrate, recording a 2.2 percent decline in shipments over the past year. The company managed to maintain their position as the top vendor globally, with a market share over 20 percent, but sluggish sales in the Asia Pacific region stopped the company from achieving positive growth.
The preliminary results showed that total PC sales declined by 6.4 percent in China, and 6.3 percent in the Asia Pacific. “Business confidence is weak in China, and this affects consumer buying patterns,” said the report.
Globally sales dipped by 5.2 percent, with North American vendors pulling ahead of their Asian counterparts. “All regions except North America experienced a PC shipment decline,” said Mikako Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner.
“One of the ongoing problems in the PC market has been the price hike in selected regions due to the weakening local currency against the U.S. dollar.”
IDC, who also released preliminary data on PC shipments on Monday, predicted a milder global decline in sales, at 4.5 percent.
“The PC market continues to struggle as we wait for replacements to accelerate, along with some return of spending from phones, tablets, and other IT,” noted Worldwide PC Trackers & Forecasting VP Loren Loverde in the report.