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IDC, Gartner: Q3 2014 PCs Improve

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According to both IDC and Gartner Q3 2014 PC shipments show improvement over previous quarters-- the numbers are still on the decline, but by -1.7% Y-o-Y according to IDC and -0.5% Y-o-Y according to Gartner, better than previously expected.

Interestingly IDC reports Apple has overtaken Asus to the 5th place in the global Q3 2014 PC vendor rankings, a first for the company since the historic days of the Apple II. For the curious, Apple PC shipments total nearly 5 million on the quarter, leading to 6.3% market share.

IDC PC shipments

Overall Q3 2014 PC shipments according to the analyst reach 78.5m units with a -1.7% Y-o-Y decline, a "sizable" improvement over previous IDC forecasts of a -4.1% Y-o-Y decline.

"[P]reliminary results still show that Q3 2014 was one of the weaker calendar 3rd quarters on record in terms of sequential growth. Q3 has historically been driven by back-to-school sales and renewed business purchasing, which were weaker than normal this year," the analyst says. "The current growth of lower-priced systems, while encouraging in the short run, brings concern for the long term viability of vendors to adequately remain in the PC space."

Apple does not make it in the PC vendor top 5 from Gartner, whose Q3 2014 ranking lists Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer and Asus. However the analyst says Apple is the 3rd ranking PC vendor in the US, where it historically has a strong PC shipment and sales record record.

Gartner PC shipments

Otherwise the Gartner numbers are similar (if also better) to those from IDC, with global Q3 2014 shipments reaching 79.4m units with a -0.5% Y-o-Y decline, as growth in mature territories (namely W. Europe and N. America) offsets declines in emerging markets.

Go IDC WW Quarterly PC Tracker

Go Gartner PC Quarterly Statistics