Holidays, more choices behind PC sale decline in 2015: Gartner

A long holiday spell and the consumers' interest shifting to devices such as smartphones and wearables led to a sharp decline in personal computer (PC) sales worldwide in the last quarter of 2015, global research firm Gartner said in its report on Wednesday.

Worldwide PC shipments was at 75.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015 - a 8.3 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2014 - the report said.

For the entire year, PC shipments was at 288.7 million units - an 8 percent decline from 2014.

"The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

Holiday sales did not boost the overall PC shipments, hinting at changes to consumers' PC purchase behaviour.

"On the business side, Windows 10 generally received positive reviews, but as expected, Windows 10 migration was minor in the fourth quarter as many organisations were just starting their testing period," Kitagawa added.

In the fourth quarter, Lenovo registered a worldwide PC shipment decline for the third consecutive quarter.

However, Lenovo declined less than the industry average, and it extended its lead in the market.

HP's fourth quarter PC shipments declined in the worldwide market and across all regions.

The decline in the regions were mostly the same or better than the regional average except for the U.S. market.

Dell's PC shipments declined across all regions except Japan where the company grew by single digits compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

"Notebooks were off the top wish list of holiday gifts. Unlike 2014 holiday sales, there were not many holiday mega deals for laptops, especially in value segments. At the same time, consumers' interest shifted to other consumer electronics devices such as TVs and wearables," Kitagawa noted.

PC shipments in EMEA totalled 22.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a decline of 16 percent year-over-year.

The Asia-Pacific PC market reached 26 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 1.5 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2014 where buyers did not rush to replace with newer PC models with Windows 10.

For 2016, Gartner forecasts a decline of one percent compared with 2015, with the potential for a soft recovery in late months.