PC shipments this quarter are at a five-year low

After a 10.9 percent slump in the second quarter of 2013, the PC market continues to decline in the third quarter too. According to Gartner, worldwide PC shipments dropped to 80.3 million units in the third quarter of 2013 which is an 8.6 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. In fact, the shipments this quarter are at their lowest since 2008.

"The third quarter is often referred to as the 'back-to-school' quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008," said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst at Gartner.  Kitagawa said that this is due to consumers shifting from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption in mature as well as in emerging markets. This is because the availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracts first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets.

PC shipments decline...

Though companies like HP, Lenovo and Dell have shown some growth in terms of shares, companies like Acer, Asus and several others have faced losses. Lenovo managed 17.6 percent of global PC shipments in the third quarter while HP had 17.1 percent of shipments. This means, both companies are vying for the top position currently. HP has recorded positive shipment growth in third quarter for the first time since first- quarter of 2012. The report further points out that Dell's PC shipments exceeded growth rate averages across all regions.

On the other hand, Acer's PC shipments declined 22.6 percent compared to last year and Asus’ lowered by 22.5 percent. However, Asus has clearly shifted its focus from PCs to tablets. In fact, its tablet shipments were almost equal to its mobile PC shipments in the third quarter, says the report.

Another highlight of the report is the 3.5 percent increase in PC shipments in the US, the first rise after six quarters of decline. A 13.7 percent decline in PC shipments in EMEA and 11.2 percent decline in Asia/Pacific was also reported. A total of 16.1 million units were shipped in the US, 22.4 million units in the EMEA region and 28.1 million units in Asia Pacific.

However, these results are preliminary, and Gartner will be soon releasing a “PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide” report.