PC sales fall again marking longest period of decline in market's history

New research from Gartner also showed that Chinese company Lenovo are now the leading global supplier of PCs

A convertible Lenovo Ultrabook is displayed at an Intel news conference during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January 7, 2013. Intel announced improvements to its processors including one with "all day" battery life. Intel also announced

The bad news just keeps on coming for beleaguered PC makers. The latest industry figures from analyst firm Gartner has revealed that worldwide PC shipments have fallen for the fifth consecutive quarter – the longest period of decline in the market’s history.

In the second quarter of 2013 worldwide PC shipments dropped to 76 million units, a 10.9% decrease from the same quarter in 2012. This data from Gartner was replicated by figures from IDC – though they put the decline slightly higher, at 11.4%.

We are seeing the PC market reduction directly tied to the shrinking installed base of PCs, as inexpensive tablets displace the low-end machines used primarily for consumption in mature and developed markets,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

“In emerging markets, inexpensive tablets have become the first computing device for many people, who at best are deferring the purchase of a PC. This is also accounting for the collapse of the mini notebook market.”

Gartner’s figures also ranked vendors for volume sold, with Chinese manufacturers Lenovo squeaking ahead of HP with 16.7% of the market share. Hewlett Packard were just behind with 16.3%, followed by Dell with 11.8% of the global market. Acer (8.3%) and Asus (6.0%) took fourth and fifth place respectively.

Commenting on the sustained fall, Victor Basta, managing director of advisory firm Magister Advisors, said: "The PC era was over some time ago.  We are just seeing it become starkly evident now.  We track tech investment activity closely and more money has been going into internet opportunities than software and hardware combined in the last 18 months, in anticipation of this trend.  If you’re a store chain called PC World you might want to rethink your brand quickly if you want to be associated with the future of technology rather than antiquity."

Gartner’s full report can be seen here.