Global PC sales slump for the sixth consecutive quarter

Global shipments of personal computers took a tumble in the first quarter, with fresh research from Gartner and IDC suggesting a drop of between 9.6% and 11.5%.

It was the sixth quarter in a row where PC shipments declined, and the first time they dropped below 65 million units since 2007.

The market for PCs has faced pressure in recent years, with bigger and more powerful smartphones and tables capturing the consumer more than the now old-school plastic clamshell laptop.

More people have kept their PCs longer as well, with Microsoft’s launch of Windows 10 last year not proving to have the same effect on sales as previous operating systems releases have.

IDC reported that all five of the top global PC makers - Asus, Apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo - saw declines in market share and shipment.

Gartner estimated a small rise in shipments and share for both Apple and Asus, however.

But there may be good news on the horizon, with large companies finally getting around to testing Windows 10 for large-scale corporate deployments according to Gartner. IDC also predicted an uptick for Windows 10.

“IDC still projects total business IT spending to grow compared to 2015, and as we head toward the end of 2016 things should start picking up in terms of Windows 10 pilots turning into actual PC purchases,” said IDC Worldwide PC Tracker research manager Jay Chou.