The global PC market, including tablets, experienced an annual decline of 7 percent in Q1 2015, reaching 115.7 million units worldwide.
According to recent findings from industry analyst firm Canalys, Apple held on to first place despite a 16 percent decline in its total PC shipments, shipping 17.2 million units and taking a 15 percent share of the market.
Lenovo and HP, second and third place respectively, both saw single-digit shipment growth in Q1 2015 and increases in market share while Samsung narrowly held on to fourth spot as its declining tablet sales led to Dell closing the gap in fifth place.
Samsung and Dell took 8.2 percent shipment market share with 9.5 and 9.4 million units respectively.
“The growth drivers that previously helped the market through 2014 will have little effect this year,” says Tim Coulling, Senior Analyst, Canalys.
“Vendors are struggling with exchange rate fluctuations which is making financial planning more difficult and forcing price increases.
“These challenges, combined with a softening of demand as Windows 10 draws nearer along with Microsoft’s free upgrade plans, means PC market declines will be greater in the second quarter than they were in the first.”
Figures show that desktop shipments were hardest hit, falling 13 percent, with declines affecting all global regions.
“The desktop category no longer benefits from shipments driven by XP migration,” adds Rushabh Doshi, Analyst, Canalys. “As a result, we expect to see significant shipment declines in 2015 when compared to 2014.”
