Worldwide PC shipments totaled 82.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 6.9 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This is the seventh consecutive quarter of shipment decline.
“Although PC shipments continued to decline in the worldwide market in the fourth quarter, we increasingly believe markets, such as the U.S., have bottomed out as the adjustment to the installed base slows,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Strong growth in tablets continued to negatively impact PC growth in emerging markets. In emerging markets, the first connected device for consumers is most likely a smartphone, and their first computing device is a tablet. As a result, the adoption of PCs in emerging markets will be slower as consumers skip PCs for tablets.”
HP and Lenovo have been virtually neck and neck for the top global position in the PC market throughout 2013. Lenovo took the lead in the fourth quarter, as it did last quarter, accounting for 18.1 percent of global PC shipments. Lenovo’s victory over the top position became apparent in 4Q13. Lenovo showed strong growth in all regions, except Asia/Pacific, where China continued to be a problematic country for the company. HP experienced a shipments decline of 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter. U.S. and Latin America were two regions where HP could not increase its shipments, and it experienced a steeper decline compared with the regional average.
Table 1: Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q13 (Units)
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Data is based on the shipments selling into channels. Source: Gartner (January 2014)
Dell continued to maintain the third position and accounted for 11.8 percent of the market. With the completion of the leveraged buyout, Dell has redefined its strategic focus onto its PC and device businesses. Dell’s focus is now beyond its traditional strength in the professional PC market; its focus is now also on consumer PCs, particularly in emerging markets.
Acer and Asus’s ranking remained unchanged compared with a year ago. Both companies have more focus on tablets, and their fourth-quarter results clearly proved their strategic focus. Ms. Kitagawa said Acer has established a strong position in the Chromebook market, while Asus has built a solid reputation as a tablet vendor. PCs are still strategic products for both companies, but share gain is not the top priority for them.
In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 15.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 7.5 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2012 (see Table 2). Despite a 10.3 percent decline in shipments, HP continued to be the No. 1 vendor in the U.S., as it accounted for 26.5 percent of shipments.
“Holiday sales of technology products were strong in the U.S. market, but consumer spending during the holidays did not come back to PCs as tablets were one of the hottest holiday items,” said Ms. Kitagawa. “We think that the U.S. PC market has bottomed out. A variety of new form factors, such as hybrid notebooks, drew holiday shoppers’ attention, but the market size was very small at the time. Lowering the price point of thin and light products started encouraging the PC replacement and potentially some PC growth in 2014.”
Table 2: Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q13 (Units)
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Data is based on the shipments selling into channels. Source: Gartner (January 2014)
PC shipments in EMEA totaled 25.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 6.7 percent decline from the same period last year. However, the decline was less steep than the last seven quarters. All areas of the region — Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa — showed a shipment decline. Shipments in Eastern Europe were driven by the professional segment, as companies had to finalize IT spending for the year. Consumers replaced PCs only on a needed basis, as many new form factors had limited availability or were priced about the average vs. traditional notebooks. Tablets, especially Android-based, were a popular holiday present and average selling prices (ASPs) for them continued to decline and attract consumer spending.
PC shipments in Asia/Pacific totaled 26.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 9.8 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2012. Buyers did not place a priority on PC purchases, preferring to spend on alternative devices such as smartphones. Some continued to delay their purchases of a PC as their requirements, such as entertainment and information access, can be addressed by other devices, such as tablets.
For the year, PC shipments were 315.9 million units, a 10 percent decline from 2012 (see Table 3). This is the worst decline in PC market history, equal to the shipment level in 2009. Lenovo took over the top spot in the global PC market, accounting for 16.9 percent of the market. HP moved into the second spot after experiencing shipment decline of 9.3 percent.
Table 3: Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2013 (Units)
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Data is based on the shipments selling into channels. Source: Gartner (January 2014)
These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner’s PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe. Additional research can be found on Gartner’s Computing Hardware section on Gartner’s website at http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/asset_129157_2395.jsp.
Source: Gartner, Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Now, Gartner, back out the Mac sales that are propping up the Windows PC numbers so everyone can see the actual extent of Windows’ decline. 🙂
iOS has broken the Wintel monopoly.
With additional help from Windowz eightista.
And companies like Gartner who pander to Windows related companies have to go way out of their way to make the issue look less fearsome.
Imagine the numbers if they reported on windows systems and Mac systems separately. ???? Scary… for them.
It baffles the mind how Wall Sick can defend MicroCopy’s sinking ship. Karma is REAL. Just ask Billy, Stevie & Mikey, just to name a few of the Wintel Dolts. They just have “NO TASTE” and he meant it in a BIG WAY.
Maybe Apple should do one thing that Dell did… Take this company private… no more answering to dummies like iCon and in any case, this company is so undervalued… Apple could easily cash in now…
And end the cash cow that Hedge funds and short-sellers have enjoyed recently.
What a great way to double-finger the parasitic scum on Wall-Nut Street.
But Apple is doing fine, while all the little rodents run around chattering at one another wishing they could run Apple, into the ground. Time is a great steamroller. Get out of the way, rats. 😆
Reality will assert itself, despite the FUD and manipulation, with time. The AnalCysts may be doing their damnedest to hide the real trends, for whatever reason. But we here at MDN can see the obvious. AAPL shall be avenged! 😀
Went to Gartner’s site and saw this…”Gartner offers world-class, objective insight on virtually any area of IT.”
What BS!!! They are paid to make their clients look good. Period. Turn the numbers upside down, ignore Apple unless their sales make the numbers look good, Just so sad.
Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure. lol
“Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Source: Gartner (January 2014)”
Gartner is such a buggy whip of a company.
More room for growth when Retena MacAir w/ Retena comes …. My November 2010 MacAir needs to be passed down to grandkids or sold – I want more memory and my keyboard is showing signs of age …..
Very different story from IDC?
http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/09/apple-drops-to-fourth-place-in-u-s-pc-shipments-for-q4-2013-with-5-7-drop-in-shipped-units/
IDC is comparing Q4 2013 against Q3 2013, Gartner is comparing the same quarter from 2012. Lies, damn lies & statistics 😉
No its not; they’re both Q42013 v. Q42012 :/
IDC calls those “preliminary” numbers.
Hopefully, Gartner is correct.
I believe there was a lot of pent-up demand released during Q4 2013 as a lot of people were waiting for updated MacBook Pros.
I doubt either company has any real data. These are all estimates, and neither one is likely to bear any resemblance to reality. Has anyone seen real corporate announcements yet? Sales figures, and not just shipments. We’ll know in a few weeks.
I think you’re correct about them just being estimates, and that this accounts for the differences between the two companies’ estimates.
“Data is based on the shipments selling into channels.”
I think that means they miss out on all the sales made in Apple stores, because Apple isn’t going to be providing sales numbers in advance of the quarterly report.
Difficult to believe considering the restraints of the period 2012 that Apple would have sold less machines in that period 2013 I have to say.
As glad as I am to see big growth numbers for the Mac, lets not forget that with the iMac delays during the prior Dec quarter Mac sales was unusually low for Apple.
Excellent point.
With Apple out of the equation it’s a 11.4% decline year on year. How on earth can they think “it’s bottomed out”?!?! It’s been sliding very rapidly & unless it had been slowing in it’s decline, you cannot draw that conclusion. I’d be putting money on it’s going to get even worse.
IDC and Gartner are paid to say that. They must be running around looking at new metrics to rate for paying clients, otherwise they’re dead in the water.
I agree.
“Bottommed out” = wishful thinking.
As always, I’ll wait an extra couple of weeks to hear Apple’s actual sales numbers. These massively divergent figures prove that at least one or both of IDC and Gartner have no idea of the real figures.
In the meantime, let’s all watch AAPL ride the rollercoaster depending on which numbers the “analysts” go with…
Ironically, Dell, lost the least share, and they’re the ones announcing the cutbacks. The cutbacks at the other companies need to be 2-10 times as big as the Dell cuts in the other article – assuming the Dell cuts were sized properly (which isn’t clear).
500,000 units difference between the 2.
What I’m hoping for is that Apple get back up to 5M units worldwide for the last quarter. Would be great to have them #5 in the world and which would peg them around 7.5% share.
I think certainly in terms of PCs HP’s days are numbered. Done well to keep their decline to what it is actually but sooner or later they are going to drop like a stone.
Good numbers but I’m still waiting for the day that Apple makes the world list. Still an afterthought it seems world-wide.
not hard for 2013 sales to show nice growth given how much problem Cook had getting the 2012 iMac out of the gate.
As Edward mentions, world market is rather important. Plenty of room for Apple to grow there. Just wish Apple would make more ads about switching to Macs instead of just pushing iOS all the time.
Wow, nothing but vitriol in this thread. You’d think that Microsoft and PC manufacturers killed all of your children or something.
Macs will never have more users than Windows and that’s a fact. So, maybe, you know – just get over it? Or not 🙂
Personally, I’m just thankful that the vast majority of businesses prefer Windows because OS X is an illogical mess of un-usability.