Global PC shipments slide in Q2: Gartner

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Lenovo maintains the top position in global PC shipments in the second quarter of 2016, despite a 2.2% drop in units from the same period last year.

Hope is on the horizon for the global PC market.

Worldwide PC shipments has reached 64.3 million units in the second quarter of 2016, a 5.2% decline from the second quarter of 2015, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This was the seventh consecutive quarter of PC shipment declines, but Gartner analysts said the market is showing some signs of improvement.

"One of the on-going problems in the PC market has been the price hike in selected regions due to the weakening local currency against the U.S. dollar," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The price issue has impacted the EMEA and Latin America regions for the past year. However, PC shipment declines became rather modest in the second quarter compared with previous quarters, which suggest a fading currency impact.

"All regions except North America experienced a PC shipment decline. The Latin America region was still very weak largely because of political and economic instability. PC shipments in Latin America are expected to fall below 5 million units for the second quarter of 2016, which is a decline of more than 20% from the second quarter of 2015. These shipment results would be some of the lowest in the history of the Latin America PC industry."

Asia/Pacific PC shipments totalled 22.7 million units in the second quarter of 2016, a 6.3% decline from the second quarter of 2015. With a stagnant economy in the region, it put pressure on discretionary spending, and smartphones ranked as a higher priority to purchase than PCs. There were election activities in Australia, the Philippines and South Korea, which created a lull in IT spending from the government sector. PC shipments in China declined 6.4%. Business confidence is weak in China, and this affects consumer buying patterns.

While the U.K.'s vote to exit the European Union did not have a major impact in the worldwide PC results in the second quarter of 2016, Gartner analysts said Brexit could potentially create uncertainty, not only in currency, but also the entire economy beyond Europe.

Lenovo maintained the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments in the second quarter of 2016, despite a 2.2% decline in units from the same period last year. This was the fifth consecutive quarter of global PC shipment declines for Lenovo. The company experienced double-digit growth in the U.S. mobile PC market, but EMEA continued to be a challenge due to inventory build during the quarter. In Asia/Pacific, Lenovo's shipments declined, but the decline was less than the overall average in the region.

__Figure 1:__ *Lenovo maintained the top position in worldwide PC shipments in the second quarter of 2016, despite a 2.2% decline in units from the same period last year. (Source: Gartner)*

HP Inc. returned to positive growth in the second quarter of 2016 after four consecutive quarters of shipment decline. HP Inc. resolved its inventory build-up, which had slowed its sell-in shipments. HP Inc. did well in EMEA to maintain the top position, but it was not able to surpass Dell in the U.S.

Dell grew faster than the industry average in all regions in second quarter of 2016. Dell did especially well in the U.S., Latin America and Japan markets. Mobile PC shipments grew across all regions except EMEA, while its desktop PC shipments declined in most regions.

Asus, Apple and Acer are battling it out for the fourth position in worldwide PC shipments for the second quarter of 2016, as preliminary results get finalised.