The personal computer market had a solid holiday quarter in 2014, according to new reports from IDC and Gartner. While the two firms’ estimates differ on the exact details, both agree that computer manufacturers shipped more than 80 million units during the past quarter.
Gartner reported that shipments actually grew 1 percent over the same period in 2013, while IDC said that they decreased by 2.4 percent. In either case, that’s above expectations of a 4.8 percent decline in sales. Lenovo and HP took the first and second spots in the market.
Apple saw massive sales growth, especially in the U.S., according to Gartner’s numbers. The company is among the top 3 computer makers by units sold in the States, and saw its sales increase almost 12 percent stateside during the last quarter of 2014.
Here are the IDC and Gartner worldwide shipment charts.
A stabilizing PC market is good news for Microsoft, which is ramping up towards its launch of Windows 10 later this year. The company will be unveiling new details about the operating system on Jan. 21, with an expected full release of the new software sometime later this year.
The news also brought some optimism from industry watchers, including Nomura Equity analyst Rick Sherlund.
“We are encouraged to see ongoing relatively stable demand for PCs for all of 2014,” he said in a note emailed to clients. “Separately, we believe Microsoft Surface units are doing well, but this is likely more impactful to revenues than to operating income.”
