Global PC (desktop, notebook and workstation) shipments in the fourth quarter of 2016 totalled 70.2 million units, posting a year-on-year decline of 1.5%.
This is according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, which found the 4Q16 results continued the recent trend of stabilising growth, which has been in decline since 2012.
The report notes annually, shipments of traditional PCs slipped to 260 million units, down 5.7% from 2015. The first quarter of 2016 was still constrained by high inventory, free Windows 10 upgrades, and difficult comparisons to commercial replacements in 2014 that were fuelled by the end of support for Windows XP.
However, mid-2016 and the recent fourth quarter have moved beyond these inhibitors and seen stabilising commercial demand. Contraction of the consumer PC market has also slowed as growth and competition from tablets and phones has eased up.
IDC says the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region performed better than expected, fuelled by strong holiday season sales of traditional PCs. While desktops performed in line with IDC's expectations, notebooks grew above forecast across the region.
"The fourth quarter results reinforce our expectations for market stabilisation, and even some recovery," says Loren Loverde, vice president of personal computing trackers and forecasting at IDC. "The contraction in traditional PC shipments experienced over the past five years finally appears to be giving way as users move to update systems. We have a good opportunity for traditional PC growth in commercial markets, while the consumer segment should also improve as it feels less pressure from slowing phone and tablet markets."
According to a report by research firm Gartner, worldwide PC shipments totalled 72.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2016, a 3.7% decline from the fourth quarter of 2015.
"Stagnation in the PC market continued into the fourth quarter of 2016 as holiday sales were generally weak due to the fundamental change in PC buying behaviour," says Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
"The broad PC market has been static as technology improvements have not been sufficient to drive real market growth. There have been innovative form factors like 2-in-1s and thin and light notebooks, as well as technology improvements, such as longer battery life. This end of the market has grown fast, led by engaged PC users who put high priority on PCs. However, the market driven by PC enthusiasts is not big enough to drive overall market growth."
IDC's vendor highlights
Lenovo continued to hold the top spot with a stronger performance in notebooks and capped the quarter growing globally at 1.7%.
HP held the second position, growing 6.6% compared to 4Q15 for its third consecutive quarter of positive growth and shipping more than 15 million units for the first time since 4Q14.
Dell Technologies also had a productive quarter with shipments of just over 11 million (the first time it has done so since 4Q11) and growth of 8.2%.
Apple was boosted by the launch of new MacBook Pro models during the fourth quarter. The company moved back into fourth place and stabilised global shipments.
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