PC shipments declined for the 11th straight quarter, according to a report by Gartner. The worldwide PC shipments for the second quarter of 2017 came in at 61.1 million units, down 4.3 percent from the same period last year. Gartner's preliminary results show that shipments in the second quarter of this year were the lowest quarterly shipments since 2007. As per the report, the decline in shipments was due to component shortages and a price hike introduced by vendors.
It was also noted that in Q2 2017, HP managed to reclaim its top position from Lenovo and has now managed five consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth. The company shipped 12.6 million PCs in this quarter, a growth of 3.3 percent over same period last year. HP now has a 20.8 percent market share in the worldwide PC segment.
Lenovo, on the other hand, shipped 12.18 million PCs globally leading to a decline of 8.4 percent over the second quarter of 2016. The Chinese company now has 19.9 percent market share in the PC industry, down from 20.8 percent last year. Dell managed to hold onto its third position with five consecutive quarters of year-on-year global shipment growth. The company registered 1.4 percent growth in its PC shipments, coming in at 9.55 million units as compared to 9.4 million units in the same period last year.
Apple saw a small decrease in the sales of its Macs, with shipments coming in at 4.23 million units. Apple was followed by Asus and Acer with shipments of 4.03 million and 3.85 million units respectively. Apple, Asus and Acer command a market share of 6.9 percent, 6.6 percent and 6.3 percent respectively. Apple would be hoping to improve sales next quarter on the back of its updated Mac devices announced at WWDC last month.
"Higher PC prices due to the impact of component shortages for DRAM, solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels had a pronounced negative impact on PC demand in the second quarter of 2017. In the business segment, vendors could not increase the price too quickly, especially in large enterprises where the price is typically locked in based on the contract, which often run through the quarter or even the year," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
In the US, PC shipments saw a decline of 5.7 percent due to weak consumer PC demand. The PC shipments totaled 14 million units in the second quarter of 2017 and Gartner notes that the Chromebook market has been growing much faster than the overall PC business. "The Chromebook is not a PC replacement as of now, but it could be potentially transformed as a PC replacement if a few conditions are met going forward," Kitagawa added in a released statement.
Gartner's analysis shows that PC shipments in the EMEA totaled 17 million units, a year-over-year decline of 3.5 percent. In the Asia-Pacific market, PC shipments were down 5.1 percent to 21.5 million units. Gartner says demand for PCs is slowing down in India and China, and absence of large tenders has significantly impacted major manufacturers.