[NewsPoster]

The year 2015 was not good for most of the PC industry, but new figures from Gartner and IDC suggest that one company -- Apple -- was able to buck an overall industry dip that saw worldwide computer shipment drop below 300 million for the first time since 2008. While it is the fourth consecutive year of dropping PC shipments, the two leading industry analyst firms disagree on the extent of the issue, with Gartner claiming an 8.3 percent decline while IDC says the drop is 10.6 percent, the largest in the technology sector's history.

The two firms do agree, however, that Apple is now the third-largest computer manufacturer in terms of US sales. In the US, IDC says Apple has 12.7 percent market share, up 1.6 percent from last year, meaning it grew nearly nine percent in US sales year-over-year. Gartner's latest report only includes worldwide data rather than US-specific figures, and includes tablet sales as computers for those companies that make tablets.

IDC US sales for calendar fourth quarter 2015

For worldwide sales, Gartner and IDC both predict that Apple shipped 5.7 million Macs in its fiscal Q1 2016 quarter, which ended in December. This represented a 2.8 percent growth year-over-year, according to IDC (Gartner says it represents 5.8 percent growth). Thanks to a precipitous 18 percent drop in sales at Acer, Apple took fourth place worldwide in the IDC report, but Gartner did not believe the drop to be that dramatic, relegating Apple to fifth place. For calendar 2015, both firms believe Apple shipped nearly 21 million Macs, making it the only one of the top five worldwide PC makers to show positive growth, and claiming 7.2 to 7.5 percent worldwide share -- up a full percentage point from last year.

Gartner figures for Q4 2015 (includes tablets and PCs)

The news was not good for most PC manufacturers, however. Worldwide market leader Lenovo, with 15.4 million units in the fourth quarter, saw a drop of 4.2 percent year-over-year, reported Gartner, with IDC reporting a 3.6 percent drop for the entire year. Second-place HP fell 8.1 percent in calendar Q4 sales compared to last year, and an overall 5.9 percent drop in yearly business. Dell was likewise down 5.9 percent for the year and 5.1 percent for the quarter, while Gartner believes Acer saw an 11.2 percent Q4 drop, with IDC pointing to an 18 percent drop in overall business.

IDC worldwide sales 2015 estimate

"Holiday sales did not boost the overall PC shipments, hinting at changes to consumers' PC purchase behavior," said Mikako Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner. "The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline [and] local currency devaluation also played a key role in the market conditions. EMEA (emerging markets in eastern Asia), Latin America and Japan faced a major impact from the devaluation, showing double-digit declines in 2015. In contrast, the US and Asia/Pacific experienced minor declines of almost flat to low single-digit declines, as the currency issue did not affect these regions."

[ElectroTech]

The last table is interesting in that usually in accounting, red denotes a negative value or a loss but because it is Apple, the colours are reversed just to make it look like Apple is in the red. Apple can't get a break no matter how well it does. These market analysis companies have to put down a winner at all costs.

[climacs]

hopefully this means the "PC does what?" campaign will disappear.