Worldwide PC shipments have dropped to 76.6 million units in the first quarter of 2014, down 1.7 percent from Q1 last year, claims Gartner in its latest report. The PC shipments as recorded in Q1 2013 declined 13.9 percent, with a drop of 10.9 percent, 8.6 percent, and 6.9 percent in the remaining quarters.
“The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
“All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter. Among key countries, Japan was greatly affected by the end of XP support, registering a 35 percent year-over-year increase in PC shipments. The growth was also boosted by sales tax change. We expect the impact of XP migration worldwide to continue throughout 2014.”
The research firm claimed that Microsoft’s decision to end the support for Windows XP with the April 8 Patch Tuesday update, which forced consumers and businesses to replace their old systems with newer hardware powered by Windows 8 and Windows 7, has resulted easing the PC shipment decline.
Lenovo, with 16.9 percent market share, accounted for the strongest global shipment growth up 10.9 percent. The other two PC makers making it to the top three positions were HP and Dell with 16 percent and 12.5 percent market share up 4.1 percent and 9 percent respectively.
Gartner noted that the US PC shipments rose 2.1 percent to 14.1 million units. HP accounting for 25 percent of the shipments continued to retain the first spot, followed by Dell with 23.8 percent and Apple, Inc. with 10.8 percent. Lenovo accounted for 10.4 percent of US PC shipments and took the fourth position.
