PC shipments slump in Q3, thanks to free Windows 10

Businesses are spending on mobile transformations, not boring old computers

The world's personal computer factories could only shove just over 70 million machines out the door during 2015's third quarter, according to box-watchers IDC and Gartner.

IDC says sales were down 10.8 per cent year on year, a worse outcome than the 9.2 per cent dip the firm previously predicted.

Windows 10 is partly to blame, says Jay Chou, IDC's research manager for its Worldwide PC Tracker, because punters are happy to take Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade without buying a new PC.

Over time, Chou reckons, “the improved PC experience across user segments should drive longer-term demand for new PC hardware that is expected help stabilize the market in 2016 and beyond." Intel's Skylake processors will help future sales, too, IDC says.

Gartner concurs, arguing that Windows 10's advent was never going to produce a PC sales spike, but adding that the appreciation of the US dollar hasn't helped matters by making PCs more expensive beyond the land of the free.

In the future, however, the firm's research indicates that “50 percent of consumers expressed intention to purchase a PC in the next 12 months, compared with 21 percent for tablet purchase intention.”

Business buyers may not be as ready to refresh their PC fleets, as IDC says “IT budgets remained focused on other projects including mobile-readiness and digital transformation initiatives.”

Here's IDC's tale of the tape for the quarter.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, Third Quarter 2015 (Preliminary) (Shipments are in thousands of units)

Vendor	3Q15 Shipments	3Q15 Market Share	3Q14 Shipments	3Q14 Market Share	3Q15/3Q14 Growth
1. Lenovo	14,937	21.0%	15,699	19.7%	-4.9%
2. HP	13,905	19.6%	14,715	18.5%	-5.5%
3. Dell	10,120	14.3%	10,425	13.1%	-2.9%
4. Apple	5,324	7.5%	5,514	6.9%	-3.4%
5. Acer Group	4,997	7.0%	6,746	8.5%	-25.9%
Others	21,693	30.6%	26,459	33.3%	-18.0%
Total	70,976	100.0%	79,558	100.0%	-10.8%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, October 8, 2015

And here's Gartner's table.

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

Company	3Q15 Shipments	3Q15 Market Share (%)	3Q14 Shipments	3Q14 Market Share (%)	3Q15-3Q14 Growth (%)
Lenovo	14,995	20.3	15,623	19.6	-4.0
HP	13,658	18.5	14,226	17.8	-4.0
Dell	10,160	13.8	10,106	12.7	0.5
Apple	5,603	7.6	5,521	6.9	1.5
Acer Group	5,448	7.4	6,804	8.5	-19.9
Asus	5,233	7.1	5,824	7.3	-10.1
Others	18,630	25.3	21,737	27.2	-14.3
Total	73,728	100.0	79,842	100.0	-7.7

Both analyst firms clearly think Acer is in rather a lot of trouble. So are “others”, which are in steep decline.

Gartner notes that sales slowed least for premium and ultramobile PCs, like Apple's MacBook Air and Microsoft's Surface devices. Good thing Microsoft just launched some new ones, eh? ®