Beancounters at IDC said that PC shipments in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) reached 20.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015 which was 18.2 percent lower than last year.
Basically the only reason that the figures were higher the year before was because there was a strong shipment push of devices under Microsoft's Bing promotion from summer 2014 to January 2015 this lead to an 18 per cent contraction for 2015 with 76.3 million PCs shipped in EMEA.
The strengthening of the US dollar also led partners to gamble on cheap products in the fourth quarter of 2014. But 2015 turned into a costly year for all of them as inventory clearing not only took 11 months but also strong promotions and price reductions.
For this reason everything went pear shaped in 2015 in a way which Windows 10 or new CPUs could not undo.
IDC said that there are some signs of stabilisation and 2015 results will support a more positive comparison in 2016.
Chrystelle Labesque, associate director, IDC EMEA Personal Computing said that "The market contraction was to be expected. If taking Bing out of the comparison, the consumer market would end the year flat, which is an encouraging sign of stabilisation."
Western Europe declined by 13.1 per cent, Central and Eastern Europe contracted 24.7 per cent. The Middle East and Africa showed the weakest performance, as shipments were down by 28.9 per cent.
The UK consumer market reported the best result, while in the commercial segment some public spending in Austria and Italy boosted shipments.
However a sharp decline in oil prices together with currency and political instabilities affected the harded the Middle Eastern region while the slowdown in the Chinese economy is worsening the business outlook in export-oriented Western European countries.
Stefania Lorenz, associate VP, IDC CEMA said that 2015 was a difficult year for the PC market. Demand remained weak across all four quarters.
The worst impact on purchasing power was felt in the Eastern part of the region: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan as well as the Rest of CEE sub-region. Other factors that prevented the market from rebounding in the commercial space included government budget freezes.
