2013 Was The 'Worst Decline In PC Market History,' Gartner Says
Worldwide PC sales dove almost 7 percent (6.9%) according to a new report published Thursday by market research firm Gartner.
For the full year, shipments were down 10%, Gartner found. That's the same decline that market research firm IDC predicted a few weeks ago.
Gartner says that in 2013 "global PC shipments suffered the worst decline in PC Market history" and that this is the seventh consecutive quarter of declining PC shipments.
As we all know by now, people are increasingly buying tablets instead of PCs, particularly in emerging markets.
In the U.S. the PC market shrunk by 7.5% this quarter, Gartner reports.
Now the good news: Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa thinks this is the rock bottom, at least for the U.S. market. In 2014, she predicts that light new hybrid tablet/PC models will encourage people to get rid of their old PCs and buy new ones.
That said, IDC predicts the worldwide PC market will still shrink in 2014, by another 3.8%.
Lenovo took the first-place spot for the quarter and the year, stealing it from HP, Gartner reports.
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2013 (Units)
| Company | 2013 Shipments | 2013 Market Share (%) | 2012 Shipments | 2012 Market Share (%) | 2013-2012 Growth (%) |
| Lenovo | 53,272,522 | 16.9 | 52,187,653 | 14.9 | 2.1 |
| HP | 51,252,229 | 16.2 | 56,505,757 | 16.1 | -9.3 |
| Dell | 36,788,285 | 11.6 | 37,611,247 | 10.7 | -2.2 |
| Acer Group | 25,689,496 | 8.1 | 35,745,401 | 10.2 | -28.1 |
| Asus | 20,030,837 | 6.3 | 24,339,951 | 6.9 | -17.7 |
| Others | 128,934,147 | 40.8 | 144,669,689 | 41.2 | -10.9 |
| Grand Total | 315,967,516 | 100.0 | 351,059,698 | 100.0 | -10. |