PC shipments in Western Europe dropped 4.4% to 14.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to the same period in 2012, according to a report from Gartner.
Shipment of mobile and desktop PCs dropped by 6.5% and 0.3%, respectively, while the PC shipments was 1.7% down in the professional PC market and consumer PC market fell 7% during the quarter.
According to the report, the traditional PC shipments in 2013 decreased 14%, but the analysts claim that the rate of fall is moderate as the impact of tablets eating into PC sales in mature markets is reducing.
Gartner principal research analyst Meike Escherich said large numbers of professional PCs running on Windows XP remained in use, and the corporate market has been increasing its PC replacement — making up for a weak consumer PC market.
HP led the PC market in Western Europe with 22.1% market share, followed by Lenovo and Acer with 13.3% and 12.2% share respectively, while Asus held fourth position with 9.9% market share.
"The battle for the fifth place was fierce," Escherich added.
The report revealed that Apple had recorded double-digit growth in both the mobile and desktop PC markets to secure the fifth position for the fourth quarter of 2013.
"Holiday sales in Western Europe were primarily dominated by tablets and mobile devices.
"However, hybrid devices and lower cost notebooks could spur growth in 2014."
PC shipments in the UK, decreased by 6.7% to 2.9 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared with the same period last year.
In UK, the mobile shipments went down by 10% and desktop PC shipments remained same during the quarter, while decreasing demand had led to 11.7% and 1.2% drop in consumer and professional PC shipments respectively.
Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said the upgrade of professional desktops on Windows XP provided momentum in the fourth quarter of 2013, with four of the top five vendors in the professional PC segment seeing year-on-year growth.
"We expect that the PC market in the UK will be smaller and stabilise at a lower level," Atwal added.
PC shipments in France reached 2.4 million units for the fourth quarter of 2013, representing a decrease of 1.7% compared to the similar period in previous year, while consumer and professional PC markets decreased at 0.5% and 3.1%, respectively.
Gartner principal research analyst Isabelle Durand said for the sixth consecutive quarter the PC market in France showed a decline, but this decline was less steep than in the UK and Germany during the fourth quarter of 2013.
"We expect ultramobiles will continue to drive growth in the mobile PC market," Durand added.
"Through 2014 we also expect PC refreshment in the professional PC segment will continue."
Germany recorded 5.6% drop in PC deliveries to 3.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013.