Worldwide PC sales continued to decline in the fourth quarter, landing at 90.3 million units, or a 4.9 percent decline from the same period in 2011.
According to data from Gartner, the PC industry's problems stem from more than a weak economy.
"Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by 'cannibalizing' PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs," Gartner principal analyst Kikako Kitagawa said in a statement.
The holiday season proved that, as neither an uptick in low-priced notebooks nor the launch of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system had a significant impact on PC shipments. Global marketing firm IDC last week reported that worldwide PC shipments were down 6.4 percent, as the October release of Windows 8 failed to boost computer sales.
"Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC," Kitagawa said.
HP remained the top PC vendor with 16.2 percent of the global market, though the company's shipments dropped in the last year. Lenovo came in a close second with 13.6 percent of the market, but saw a slight uptick in shipments. Dell, Acer, and Asus each earned 10 percent or less of the Q4 market share.
In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 17.5 million units last quarter, according to Gartner ? a 2.1 percent decline since Q4 2011. Professional PC sales, however, saw "good growth," Kitagawa said.
U.S. numbers looked a little different than the global stats. According to Gartner, HP still holds its No. 1 position, with Dell in second. Meanwhile, Apple took the third slot with 12.3 percent of the U.S. PC market, just ahead of Lenovo and Acer.
"There will be some individuals who retain both, but we believe they will be exception and not the norm," Kitagawa said in a statement. Instead, consumers will likely not replace secondary PCs, but instead let them age out before shifting to a tablet.
Research firm NPD last week announced that tablet shipments will reach 240 million units this year, marking a 64 percent year-over-year growth. The group predicted a decline in the use of 7-inch tablets, while 7.9-inch devices like the iPad mini become all the rage by 2017.
For more from Stephanie, follow her on Twitter @smlotPCMag.
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414256,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05039TX1K0000760
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