PC Market in Western Europe Declined 20.5 Per Cent in First Quarter of 2013

PC shipments in Western Europe totalled 12.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a decline of 20.5 per cent from the corresponding period of 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. (see Table 1).

"The first quarter of 2013 brought the worst quarterly decline in Western Europe since Gartner started tracking PC shipments in this region," said Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Wide availability of Windows 8-based PCs could not boost consumer PC purchases during the quarter. Although the new Metro-style user interface suits new form factors, users wonder about its suitability for traditional PCs — non-touchscreen desktops and notebooks."

All PC segments in Western Europe exhibited year-on-year declines in the first quarter of 2013. Mobile and desktop PC shipments fell by 24.6 per cent and 13.8 per cent, respectively. Shipments to the professional PC market declined by 17.2 per cent, while those to the consumer PC market decreased by 23.7 per cent.

HP and Acer both recorded declines of over 30 per cent. However, despite seeing its consumer notebook volumes halve during this quarter, HP remained the market leader.

Lenovo and Apple were the only top-five vendors to record growth. Lenovo was again the fastest-growing vendor, with growth in both desktop and notebook PC shipments. This enabled it to close the gap with Acer, which held on to second place. Lenovo continued to expand in the consumer PC sector by winning share from both Acer and HP, and by being aggressive in the professional PC market, where it competed closely with HP and Dell.

"The battle for consumer wallet share continues between different devices," said Ms Escherich. "The PC is the first to fall by the wayside as usage patterns shift toward smartphones and tablets. This ongoing trend will have a profound impact on the size of the installed base of PCs," said Ms Escherich.

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs. Media tablets are excluded.
Source: Gartner (May 2013)