PC shipments grow just 3% in September quarter

Shipments of PCs grew by just 3% in the September quarter, according to new figures released by research firm Gartner.

The figures show that 91.8 million PCs were shipped, up by 3.2% from the previous corresponding period, although that figure is less than expected. Gartner had predicted a 5.1% rise.

“The inventory build up, which slowed growth the last four quarters, mostly cleared out during the third quarter of this year, however, the PC industry has been performing below normal seasonality,” principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.

“As expected, back-to-school PC sales were disappointing in mature markets, confirming that the consumer PC market continues to be weak. The popularity of non-PC devices, including media tablets, such as the iPad and smartphones, took consumers’ spending away from PCs.”