PC market holds on as tablet penetration increases

"Now that tablets have mostly penetrated some key markets, consumer spending is slowly shifting back to PCs."

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 83.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, a 1 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2013.

According to preliminary results by Gartner, these results indicate a slow, but consistent improvement following more than two years of decline.

"The PC market is quietly stabilizing after the installed base reduction driven by users diversifying their device portfolios," says Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst, Gartner.

"Installed base PC displacement by tablets peaked in 2013 and the first half of 2014. Now that tablets have mostly penetrated some key markets, consumer spending is slowly shifting back to PCs.

“However, there are regional variations. Mostly, mature regions show an ongoing trend of positive growth, but emerging markets remain weak."

Lenovo held onto its position as the worldwide leader in PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014, with 19.4 per cent of the market.

Lenovo showed mixed results in the quarter with strong growth in EMEA and the US, but shipments declined in Latin America and Japan.

The share difference between Lenovo and HP narrowed in the fourth quarter of 2014 with HP growing 16 per cent and garnering 18.8 per cent of the market.

HP has expressed its commitment to the device market, and it has started to show a positive result with strong growth in the U.S with HP’s growth in EMEA and Asia/Pacific also exceeding the regional average.

Meanwhile, Dell continued to maintain the third position and accounted for 12.7 per cent of the market.

The fourth quarter 2014 results indicate that Dell’s expansion into the consumer market has been successful, which was the least focused market for the company prior to the leveraged buyout.

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