Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 7.7% In Q3 Of 2015

According to Gartner, Worldwide PC shipments was down to 73.7 million units in the third quarter of 2015, a 7.7 percent decline from the third quarter of 2014.

“The global PC market has experienced price increases of around 10 percent throughout the year, due to the sharp appreciation of the U.S. dollar against local currencies. In the third quarter of 2015, this continued to be a major cause for weaker demand in those regions,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “These impacted regions, which include EMEA, Japan and Latin America, posted double-digit declines in the third quarter. Asia/Pacific and the U.S. were more stable.”

Gartner mentioned in their report that Windows 10 launch had minimal impact in the PC market. The Windows 10 rollout will ramp up in 4Q15 holiday sales. Gartner also revealed that they saw positive growth in U.S notebook and premium ultramobile shipments.

“This change in consumer preferences toward PCs was visible in the preliminary data, as we saw positive growth in U.S notebook and premium ultramobile shipments,” Ms. Kitagawa said. “Soft recovery is expected to start in 4Q15, as Windows 10 product refreshes start to appear. In the meantime, PC manufacturers should adjust configurations for 2016 without the impact of price hikes seen in 2015, which will lead into more stable market conditions in the upcoming year.”

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q15 (Thousands of Units)

Along with Microsoft, Windows OEMs are releasing many attractive PCs for this holiday season. Hopefully, sales of PCs will be going up in the next quarter.