EMEA PC shipments slumped 16% says Gartner

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 75.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, an 8.3 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2014, according to analyst Gartner.

And for the year, 2015 PC shipments totalled 288.7 million units, an 8 percent decline from 2014, the analyst said.

PC shipments in EMEA totalled 22.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a decline of 16 percent from the same period last year. In 2015, the EMEA PC market reached nearly 83 million units, a 14 percent decline from 2014.

“In the fourth quarter of 2015, high PC inventory levels afflicted Western Europe since the Bing promotions which occurred a year ago, continuing to limit sell into the channel,” said Isabelle Durand, analyst at Gartner. “While the EMEA PC market recorded a decline in the fourth quarter of 2015, it grew 13 percent sequentially, which showed that inventories were finally being cleared out, leaving PC vendors in a better position for 2016.”

In the fourth quarter of 2015, PC vendors and the channel were “reluctant” to bring Windows 10 PCs into the market because the Intel Skylake platform was delayed, and older platforms denied some potential benefits, such as longer battery life for Windows 10, Gartner added.

“The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline,” said Mikako Kitagawa, analyst at Gartner. “Holiday sales did not boost overall PC shipments, hinting at changes to consumers’ PC purchase behaviour. On the business side, Windows 10 generally received positive reviews, but as expected, Windows 10 migration was minor in the fourth quarter as many organisations were just starting their testing period,” said Kitagawa.

“All regions registered a decrease in shipments. Currency devaluation issues continued to impact EMEA, Latin America and Japan,” Kitagawa said. “Collectively EMEA, Japan and Latin America saw their markets reduced by nearly 10 percent in 2015.”

Gartner’s outlook for PC shipments in 2016 is for a decline of 1 percent compared with 2015, with the potential for a “soft recovery” in late 2016. Kitagawa said the PC market is still in the middle of “structural change” which will reduce the PC installed base in the next few years.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, Lenovo registered a worldwide PC shipment decline for the third consecutive quarter. However, Lenovo declined less than the industry average, and it extended its lead in the market.

Lenovo accounted for 20.3 percent of worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015. Lenovo did particularly well in North America to offset shipment declines in EMEA, Latin America and Japan, Gartner said.

HP’s fourth quarter PC shipments declined in the worldwide market and across all regions. The decline in the regions were mostly the same or better than the regional average except for the US market. The steep decline in the US market was in part because of “unusually high shipment volume” in the fourth quarter of 2014, led by low-priced Bing notebooks targeting holiday sales.

Dell’s PC shipments declined across all regions except Japan where the company grew by single digits compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. Although Dell’s shipments declined in EMEA and the US, Dell declined less than the regional averages.

@AntonySavvas