Dell adds to market share in weakening global PC market

As worldwide PC shipments decline, the top three vendors—Lenovo, HP Inc. and Dell Technologies—boosted their share of the global PC market in the first quarter of 2019, according to new industry data.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 58.5 million units for the quarter, a 4.6 percent decline compared to the same quarter in the previous year, according to data from tech industry research firm Gartner Inc.

But Lenovo, HP and Dell accounted for 61.5 percent of global PC shipments for the quarter, compared to 56.9 percent in the same quarter of last year.

The overall global PC shipment decline is nothing new. Last year marked the seventh consecutive year of declining PC shipments worldwide, according to data released in January.

Despite the decline, Round Rock-based Dell saw its fifth consecutive quarter of global PC shipment growth in the first quarter of 2019. The company increased shipments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Japan but declined in North America and Asia-Pacific countries, Gartner found.

In worldwide shipments, Dell lagged behind Lenovo and HP. Lenovo saw its largest year-over-year growth among top vendors.

Dell's global PC shipments totaled 9.9 million units for the quarter, compared to 9.8 million units in the same quarter of 2018. In the first quarter, Dell holds 17.6 percent of the global market share, behind Lenovo's 22.5 percent and HP's 21.9 percent.

In the United States, Dell maintained its No. 2 position but saw a 7.1 percent decrease compared to the first quarter of 2018. HP took the top spot in U.S. shipments.

Dell holds 28.7 percent of the U.S. market share for the quarter, behind HP's 29.4 percent market share.

Gartner analysts attributed the worldwide PC shipment decline to a shortage of central processing units and a weak consumer market.

"While the consumer market remained weak, the mix of product availability may have also hindered demand," Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner, said in a written statement. "In contrast, Chromebook shipments increased by double digits compared with the first quarter of 2018, despite the shortage of entry-level CPUs."

Supply constraints impacted the competitive landscape, according to Kitagawa. Leading vendors had a better allocation of chips and began sourcing central processing units from Advanced Micro Devices, which runs most of its operations out of Central Texas.

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 11 million units in the first quarter of 2019, a 6.3 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2018.

Business PC demand remained strong across most key regions, according to Gartner. Windows 10 remains a driving force of business PC growth over the past three years, but the research firm predicted that 2019 will be the last year shipments see an impact.

"While PC shipment results in the first quarter of 2019 indicated that the business PC segment still showed strong demand, weak mobile PC results could be the indicator that the Windows 10 refresh has nearly peaked," Kitagawa said.