The latest data from Gartner regarding the state of the PC market in Q3 2018 shows negligible gains globally, with a meagre 0.1% rate of growth. In the US, on the other hand, PC shipments actually declined by 0.4%.
Microsoft's Surface line was still able to achieve growth of 1.9% in the US, however, earning it 4.1% of market share and the fifth spot in the ranks of PC makers in the country.
Gartner's data also shows Lenovo regaining the top spot in the global PC market back from HP, with Dell, Apple, Acer, and Asus following in tow, respectively. In the US market, HP reigned supreme with almost 31% market share, followed by Dell's 25.9%. The global leader, Lenovo, was only able to secure the third position in the US, having captured 15.4% of the market.
Chromebooks are, unfortunately, not included in Gartner's definition of PCs, and thus excluded from these stats. Devices running Google's OS were seen to gain increasing adoption among K-12 institutions in the US, and racked up double digits worth of growth in shipments.
The report noted that enterprise customers were the most significant contributor to PC shipments, as consumer demand was found to be lacking. Despite this being the back-to-school season, Gartner's Mikako Kitagawa suggests that "most students already have PCs before they head off to college", and thus demand in the consumer market was lacking. The report assigns the strong sales among businesses to the Windows 10 upgrade cycle, and expects demand to continue to hold steady until 2020.
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