Two analysts firms, Gartner and IDC, released a report on April 11 showing that the PC market continues to decline. The report revealed that PC unit sales dropped between 10 and 12 percent during the first quarter of the year.
According to Extreme Tech, IDC reported that PC unit sales fell by 11.5 percent during the first quarter. This represents about 60.6 million sold units. On the other hand, Gartner reported that PC sales dropped by 9.6 percent to 64.8 million units.
While the ongoing decline of the PC market might shock some people, both IDC and Gartner agree that the figures are in line with expectations as consumers are slowly gearing up towards mobility with smartphones and tablets.
Additionally, both IDC and Gartner agree that the current decline can be attributed to several factors. Among these factors is the mediocre success of the Windows 10 operating system, weak consumer demand and deterioration in foreign currency.
Tech analysts hope that at least some of the mentioned factors will no longer affect the market in the coming months. In a statement acquired by PC World, IDC research director Linn Huang said, "With some IT buyers thinking about early Windows 10 transitions and with the potential continued ascent of Chromebooks in the U.S. K-12, the PC market should experience a modest rebound in the coming months."
In terms of manufacturer statistics, Lenovo leads the pack as the top PC vendor despite the fact that its shipments dropped by as much as 7.2 percent with 12.5 million units sold. Only two manufacturers posted a positive growth, Apple and Asus.
In Gartner's report, Apple finished in the fifth spot with 4.6 million units sold. On the other hand, IDC ranked Apple fourth with 4.5 million units sold.
According to PC World, within the United States alone, Lenovo showed a promising growth rate with 21 percent increase in PC shipments from 2015 to 2016. This helped Lenovo climbed to the third spot in the US market, just one rank higher than Apple.
Overall, the US PC shipment is lowest in three years. The market shipment volume fell by 6.6 percent with only 13.1 million units sold. In comparison, both the Gartner and IDC reports show a positive growth of the smartphone market.