PC sales drop to 2007 levels, and some blame Windows 10

PC sales drop to 2007 levels, and some blame Windows 10

Lenovo is on top of a shrinking market; only Apple is shipping significantly more machines this year than last, according to trade group numbers. HP is sinking fastest among the big players, but still in #2. The rest of the market (“Other”) seems to be evacuating the bowels of modern life entirely, losing 20% its size last year. Both analysts blamed the drop in PC sales on a combination of factors: an economic slowdown in China; a strong US dollar; and the continuing growth of smartphones and other mobile devices. IDC also noted that free Windows 10 upgrades may have hurt PC vendors as consumers chose to upgrade their OS without forking out for new hardware. However, both analysts expect sales to pick up in 2016 as businesses—by far the largest market for PCs—start to upgrade to Windows 10.