PC market appears to have grown for the first time since 2012

Enlarge (credit: Thomas Claveirole)

PC sales were up year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018, the first such increase since the first quarter of 2012. Market research firms Gartner and IDC both reported growth in the market, of 1.4 and 2.7 percent, respectively.

The two companies track numbers differently: Gartner includes Windows-based tablets but excludes Chromebooks and non-Windows tablets, whereas IDC includes Chromebooks but excludes all tablets, even those like the Surface Pro that are used and sold as PCs.

Gartner reports that the growth was driven by increased business sales and that consumer shipments declined. IDC similarly pointed to the "business-driven refresh cycle" as a reason for the increase. This mirrors Microsoft's financial reporting; the software giant distinguishes between business and consumer sales of Windows and Office, and the general pattern over the last few quarters is that business sales have been robust even as consumer demand continues to soften. Enterprises are migrating to Windows 10, and they're buying new hardware to do so.

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