Desktop Renewals Drive Stabilization in the EMEA PC Market

The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) traditional PC market (desktops, notebooks, and workstations) recorded slight growth in the first quarter of 2018, with the market going positive (+0.6%) and totaling 17.5 million units, according to IDC.

The commercial space grew +6.2% due to enterprise renewals, while the consumer space declined 5.2% as market saturation in Western Europe led to heavy declines across the region. Notebooks posted a slight decline for EMEA (-0.5%) as continued demand for mobility and security drove strong commercial growth, offsetting the weak consumer performance in Western Europe. Desktops were the real drivers this quarter, posting an overall growth in EMEA of +2.9% YoY, as ongoing traction in the gaming market aided the overall consumer performance, while enterprise renewals contributed to the strong commercial outlook.

In Western Europe, the overall traditional PC market contracted by 4.3% YoY. Notebooks came in as expected, with demand for mobility and security continuing to act as strong drivers of growth in the commercial space. On the other side, desktops made a resurgence and showed clear signs toward stabilization, very nearly breaking flat. Commercial traditional PC shipments in Western Europe increased by +6.3% YoY.

Solid growth was registered transversely across both product categories, but the strongest results came from desktops, which posted their first annual growth in 14 quarters. The consumer PC market in Western Europe declined by 16.7% YoY. Gaming is still maintaining healthy traction in the market, with casual gaming at the forefront, but its low base volume rendered it insufficient to shift the market trend.

Traditional PC market consolidation has continued, and the top 3 vendors' share continued to grow in 2018Q1. HP held on to the top spot in EMEA, gaining +3.1% market share YoY to reach 28.8%. Strong performance both in notebooks and desktops boosted its results. Lenovo retained its second spot, reporting 21.4% market share (up by +0.8% YoY). Solid performance in the commercial space, both desktops and notebooks, drove its overall results.

Dell secured the third position with a market share of 13.4% (up +1.4% YoY). A strong notebook performance combined with even stronger desktop results, both in the consumer and commercial space, contributed to its overall growth in the region. Acer was fourth in the overall ranking with 7.9% market share, dropping 1.9% YoY, primarily due to a poor performance in Western Europe. However, it maintained its strong foothold in CEMA, reporting positive YoY growth. ASUS finished fifth with 7.5% market share (down 1.8% YoY). The vendor had another challenging quarter, except in CEMA where it maintained positive YoY growth in the notebook space.