Some customers "may never upgrade to a PC again": Gartner

Industry analyst Gartner has warned that some customers may never upgrade to a PC again due to falling PC shipments worldwide.

Estimates show that global PC shipments were down by 5.7 percent to 68.9 million, the eighth consecutive decline.

Gartner counts desk-based computers, notebooks and "ultramobile premiums" such as Microsoft Surface as PCs, but not Chromebooks or iPads.

Principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said the biggest issues in the PC market were the extension of device lifetime and weaker consumer demand in emerging markets.

"According to our 2016 personal technology survey, the majority of consumers own, and use, at least three different types of devices in mature markets," said Kitagawa.

"Among these devices, the PC is not a high-priority device for the majority of consumers, so they do not feel the need to upgrade their PCs as often as they used to. Some may never decide to upgrade to a PC again."

He added that back-to-school demand usually drove sales in the third quarter, but the effect of marketing campaigns are lessening.

"Consumers in emerging markets primarily use smartphones or phablets for their computing needs, and they don't find the need to use a PC as much as consumers in mature markets," said Kitagawa.

Lenovo held on to its lead as the biggest PC supplier with 14.4 million PCs shipped in the quarter, despite dropping 2.4 percent.

Closely behind was HP Inc. with 14 million, increasing shipments by 2.33. Dell was also up by 2.6 percent to reach 10 million.

Apple took a significant hit with 13.4 percent less shipments than last year, totalling 4.9 million. Acer also suffered a big hit, with shipments down 14.1 percent to 4.6 million.

Shipments in Asia-Pacific totalled 24.7 million, down 7.6 percent.