Gartner and IDC: PC Sales Decline in Q1

New figures from market researchers Gartner and IDC show that the PC market shrank again in the first quarter of this year after a brief rebound. This would bring the market back to the level it was at the beginning of 2009.

According to Gartner, 71.7 million PCs were sold in the first quarter of this year, a decrease of 5.2 percent from the first quarter of 2014. IDC comes in at 68.5 million units, which is a decrease of 6.7 percent.

The decline in PC sales is mainly due to reduced sales of desktop systems. Laptops, hybrid systems and Windows tablets would still show an increase. Gartner argues that the decline in desktop sales is primarily attributable to the “Windows XP effect,” with companies last year replacing PCs running Microsoft’s phased-out operating system.

Lenovo and HP, number one and two worldwide, are exceptions. For them, sales of desktop PCs increased slightly, by 5.7 and 2.5 percent respectively. Acer and Dell, in particular, saw sales decline by several percent. These brands therefore lost market share.

Despite declining PC sales, Gartner and IDC say there’s no reason to sound the alarm just yet. For example, the market researchers expect that the arrival of Windows 10 later this year will cause PC sales to stabilize.