Global PC shipments grew 2.3% to 70.6 million units in Q4 2019: Gartner

The global PC market grew 2.3 per cent year-on-year in October-December 2019 with shipment totalling 70.6 million units, data from research firm Gartner showed.

The worldwide shipment was 69 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018, Gartner said its preliminary results for fourth quarter of 2019.

"The PC market experienced growth for the first time since 2011, driven by vibrant business demand for Windows 10 upgrades, particularly in the US, EMEA ( Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) and Japan," Gartner senior principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said.

"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," she added.

Contrasted against the ongoing weakness in consumer personal computers (PC) demand, business PC demand has led to unit growth in five of the last seven quarters, Kitagawa said.

"The ongoing Intel CPU shortage, which began mid-last year, became a major issue again on PC delivery to enterprise customers by the top three vendors. Without this shortage, shipments would have grown faster than the reported results," she said.

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 261.2 million units in 2019, a marginal 0.6 per cent increase from 2018.

This was the first time in seven years that the global PC market experienced growth.

Lenovo maintained its number one position in the worldwide PC market and widened its share over HP Inc. With the exception of the Asia/Pacific, Lenovo recorded year-over-year growth in all regions. In the US alone, Lenovo's desktop PC shipments rose more than 30 per cent compared to the year-ago period.