Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Down 5.2% In First Quarter

Worldwide shipments of PCs totaled 7.1 million units in the first quarter, down 5.2% from a year ago, Gartner Inc. said Thursday. The industry got a boost last year when several companies replaced their PCs, but the replacement cycle faded, Gartner said. Lenovo Group Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were the only two vendors among the top 5 worldwide to experience an increase in PC shipments, with Lenovo experiencing its strongest growth in countries in the Middle East, emerging Europe, and Africa and in the U.S. HP kept its top position in the EMEA region and in the U.S. For the first time in six quarters, Dell Inc. experienced a worldwide PC shipment decline compared with a year ago, Gartner said.