PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
PC unit growth within the UK stood at 32.4 per cent in Q1 2015, according to analyst Context.
The growth rate covers desktops, notebooks and PC workstations, with the UK ahead of Spain (27.2 per cent) and France (23.1 per cent).
PC sales by distributors grew by 13.8 per cent during the period, which was driven by notebooks and two-in-ones.
These continued to gain traction with consumer and budget notebooks, said Context. Business PCs were up seven per cent, supported by growth in the low-end notebook space.
Desktop computing sales declined by four per cent overall across Western Europe, but the data centre, networking and security category grew by 14 per cent and networking systems grew by 17 per cent.
According to Context, HP’s desktop sales slumped by 20.7 per cent, while Lenovo saw an increase in its growth thanks to strong notebook sales and mobile computing growth of 41 per cent.
In addition, tablet sales declined overall by 17.7 per cent year-on-year across Western Europe, with France seeing the largest decline of 20.4 per cent.
Growth in sales through distribution during the first three months of 2015 almost halved to 4.1 per cent year-on-year. However, heading into the second quarter, the outlook for the region is steady according to Context.
Jeremy Davies, CEO and co-founder of Context, said: “Our channel sales indicators are showing that growth should be steady in the second quarter.
"However with so much of distribution business still reliant on PC revenues, softness in this sector prior to the launch of Windows 10 could depress sales and lower growth."
This news comes after IDC reported a decline in PC sales across Europe, with PC prices set to rise following currency fluctuations.
