This post was originally published on this site
Annual global PC sales rose for the first time in eight years, according to data released by industry tracking firms late Monday.
International Data Group said late Monday that global PC shipments rose 2.7% year-over-year to 266.7 million units, the first annual gain since 2011, when PC sales rose 1.7%.
“This past year was a wild one in the PC world, which resulted in impressive market growth that ultimately ended seven consecutive years of market contraction,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
“The market will still have its challenges ahead, but this year was a clear sign that PC demand is still there despite the continued insurgence of emerging form factors and the demand for mobile computing,” Reith said.
Over at Gartner, data showed that PC sales grew 0.6% for the year to 261.2 million units. Gartner does not include Chromebooks that run on Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG, +0.66% GOOGL, +0.77% Google operating system or Apple Inc. AAPL, +2.14% iPads.
“The PC market experienced growth for the first time since 2011, driven by vibrant business demand for Windows 10 upgrades, particularly in the U.S., EMEA and Japan,” said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner. “We expect this growth to continue through this year even after Windows 7 support comes to an end this month, as many businesses in emerging regions such as China, Eurasia and the emerging Asia/Pacific have not yet upgraded.”
According to IDC, Lenovo Group Ltd. 992, +3.38% led with 24.3% market share at 64.8 million PCs for the year, HP Inc. HPQ, +0.37% had 23.6% share with 62.9 million, Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, +0.65% had 17.5% at 46.5 million units, Apple had 6.6% share with 17.9 million, and Acer Group had 6.4% share with 17 million.
Gartner’s figures, while slightly different, showed the same market-share ranking. Gartner said Lenovo had 24.1% share with 63 million units for the year, HP had 22.2% share with 57.9 million units, Dell had 16.8% with 44 million units, Apple had 7% with 18.4 million units, and Acer had 5.7% share with 14.8 million.
For the fourth quarter, IDC said global PC sales rose 4.8% to 71.8 million units, and Gartner said sales grew 2.3% to 70.6 million units.
