Worldwide PC shipments totaled 75.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 8.3 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2014, according to preliminary results by Gartner. For the year, 2015 PC shipments totaled 288.7 million units, an 8 percent decline from 2014, Gartner said. In a slightly different estimation, IDC said that computer shipments fell 10.6 percent in the quarter ended in December compared to a year earlier.

"The fourth quarter of 2015 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment decline," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "Holiday sales did not boost the overall PC shipments, hinting at changes to consumers’ PC purchase behavior. On the business side, Windows 10 generally received positive reviews, but as expected, Windows 10 migration was minor in the fourth quarter as many organizations were just starting their testing period."

Gartner’s outlook for PC shipments in 2016 is for a decline of 1 percent compared with 2015, with the potential for a soft recovery in late 2016. Ms. Kitagawa said the PC market is still in the middle of structural change which will reduce the PC installed base in the next few years.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, Lenovo registered a worldwide PC shipment decline for the third consecutive quarter. However, Lenovo declined less than the industry average, and it extended its lead in the market. Lenovo accounted for 20.3 percent of worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015. Lenovo did particularly well in North America to offset shipment declines in EMEA, Latin America and Japan.

HP’s fourth quarter PC shipments declined in the worldwide market and across all regions. The decline in the regions were mostly the same or better than the regional average except for the U.S. market. The steep decline in the U.S. market was in part because of unusually high shipment volume in the fourth quarter of 2014, led by low-priced Bing notebooks targeting holiday sales.

Dell’s PC shipments declined across all regions except Japan where the company grew by single digits compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. Although Dell’s shipments declined in EMEA and the U.S., Dell declined less than the regional averages.

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 16.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, a 3.1 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2014. Despite an 8.4 percent decline in shipments, HP maintained the No. 1 position in the U.S., accounting for 27.1 percent of PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2015. Dell continued to be the number 2 vendor in the U.S., as its shipments declined less than the industry average.