MORRISVILLE – Personal computer sales increased in 2019 for the first time since 2011 with Lenovo – which introduced a host of new machines including a folding-screen laptop and what it says is the first 5G machine – leading the way.

Data firms Gartner and IDC both reported statistics showing a positive year-over-year performance with Lenovo, HP and Dell dominating the global market.

Gartner notes that global sales increased on just six tenths of a percent – but the number of shipments hit 261 million, a positive trend boosted by sales climbing more than 2 percent alone in the fourth quarter.

IDC reported similar figures.

“This past year was a wild one in the PC world, which resulted in impressive market growth that ultimately ended seven consecutive years of market contraction,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. “The market will still have its challenges ahead, but this year was a clear sign that PC demand is still there despite the continued insurgence of emerging form factors and the demand for mobile computing.”

IDC graphic

IDC tracks PC sales

Lenovo, which operates dual headquarters in Morrisville and Beijing, grew its market share to 24.3 percent with 64.8 million units shipped, according to IDC. Lenovo’s sales increased more than 8 percent year-over-year.

HP remains second at 23.6 percent share, up half a percentage point.

Dell remains third at 17.5 percent share, a growth of more than five percentage points.

The big three are dominating sales, in fact, more than ever before.

“Lenovo, HP Inc. and Dell accounted for nearly 65% of PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2019, up from just more than 61% in the fourth quarter of 2018,” Gartner reported, the highest percentage it has recorded in tracking the industry.

Source: Gartner

Not all the news was good as sales of Apple and Acer PC sales fell.

“The PC market experienced growth for the first time since 2011, driven by vibrant business demand for Windows 10 upgrades, particularly in the U.S., EMEA and Japan,” said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner. “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.”

Driving improvement is business sales, she added.

“Contrasted against the ongoing weakness in consumer PC demand, business PC demand has led to unit growth in five of the last seven quarters. 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.”

For more from IDC, check this link.

For more from Gartner, click this link.