Global PC Shipments Grew During Q3 2019 On Windows 10 Upgrades, AMD A Big Winner
According to Garner's figures, shipments actually increased by 1.1 percent during Q3 to 68.1 million units. This compares to 67.4 million units during Q3 2018. What's interesting is that there were a number of factors at play that could have had a negative impact on the quarterly numbers: namely warning signs for the global economic climate, CPU shortages from Intel, and the U.S.-China trade war. However, even those concerns weren’t enough to stop the industry from chalking up a "win".
The top three PC vendors in the United States during the third quarter were Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Lenovo with 29.6 percent, 26.7 percent, and 15 percent market share respectively. Apple managed to hang on for a fourth-place showing with 14.8 percent of the market. Looking on a global scale, the top three vendors were Lenovo, HP and Dell with 24.7 percent, 22.4 percent, and 16.6 percent respectively of the global market.
One primary driving factor behind the increase comes from Windows 10 upgrades. Windows 7 extended support is ending early next year, and the oldest machines [that came preinstalled with the operating system] are approaching ten years old, so it stands to reason that a number of businesses are likely feeling the pressure to move on to newer hardware.
“The Windows 10 refresh cycle continued to be the primary driver for growth across all regions, although the magnitude of the impact varied according to local market conditions and the stage of the refresh cycle,” said Mikako Kitagawa, who serves as a senior principal research analyst for Gartner. In fact, PC shipments in the Japanese market surged a whopping 55 percent year-over-year.
Gartner goes on to say that AMD was a big winner during the quarter -- as we've previously reported -- due in part to Intel CPU shortages and the overall strength of the Ryzen 3000 family in its own right. In addition, PC vendors in general have been able to boost their margins thanks to downward trending pricing from expensive components like SSDs and DRAM.
