Gartner figures show PC market in continued decline

The overall PC market continued to decline in the UK according to the latest shipment figures from Gartner, although Lenovo made gains.

In January 2014 Lenovo announced its acquisition of IBM's x86 server business. In the server market, Lenovo is expected to emulate its successes in the PC market by undercutting the established competitors, especially HP and Dell.

PC shipments in the UK totalled 2.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, a decrease of 6.7% compared with the same period in 2012 (see table below).

Mobile shipments declined 10%, while desktop PC shipments were flat, in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Lenovo moved to the second place ahead of Dell, while Toshiba and Apple were the strongest performers in the quarter, with strong professional and consumer PC market growth.

HP grew its market share and retained the top position in the UK PC market. It increased its lead in both the consumer and mobile PC segments. In the US has begun offering users the opportunity to buy PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed, rather than Windows 8, in a bid to boost PC sales.

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including X86 tablets equipped with Windows 8, but excludes Chromebooks and other tablets. Source: Gartner, February 2014

Across western Europe, Gartner reported mobile and desktop PC shipments declined 6.5% and 0.3%, respectively. PC shipments in the professional PC market declined 1.7%, while the consumer PC market fell 7% in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The PC industry has seen a global decline, with consumers buying tablets rather than desktop or notebook PCs.  Sony has announced it is selling its Vaio PC business to Japan Industrial Partners, marking its exit from the PC market.