PC shipments down again: Gartner

PC shipments have been declining annually since 2012—a trend that looks to continue into 2017, says IT research firm Gartner. The general stagnation of the PC market is the result of the slowed rate of technological advancement (PCs are no longer getting faster at the same as they were 10 years ago) and the replacement of PCs by smartphones for many basic computing tasks.

Gartner notes that the more innovative segments of the PC industry—notably mobile gaming, thin and light notebooks, and 2-in-1s, show vitality. The non-enthusiast, low-end side of the market is what has been declining most, notes Mikako Kitagawa, lead analyst at Gartner.

The news isn't bad for all vendors, however. Of the big-name companies, only Dell showed positive growth, with a 2.6 percent on-year increase. Apple and Acer suffered the most, with -8.7 and -9.9 percent negative growth, respectively. The average market loss for other "white-box" vendors was -18.8 percent, according to Gartner's data. While Lenovo had -2.4 percent on-year growth, they did impress by having the largest market share of any PC vendor (20.7 percent).