Gartner noted that sales in the EMEA region were better than expected, up 6.7%, while Asia/Pacific was below forecasts due to weakness in India and China. "While the PC industry has high expectations for strong growth in the emerging markets, the slowdown of these countries in this quarter provides a cautionary notice to vendors that the future growth for the PC industry cannot heavily depend on the emerging markets even though PC penetration in these regions is low," Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.
The research firm noted that the hard drive supply shortage had a "limited impact" on PC supply in the quarter.
Consumer PC shipment growth was below normal Q1 leves, Gartner said, asserting that the weakness reflects "intensified competition for consumers' budgets."
On a global basis, Lenovo was the largest share gainer, but still trails behind market leader Hewlett-Packard.
In the U.S. market, HP as the biggest share gainer, expanding on its leading place in the market. Apple also gained ground, breaking up the 10% level for the first time.
Update: IDC reported similar data this afternoon. The market research firm estimates that Q1 PC units sales were up 2.3% in the quarter, above a previous projection of a 0.9% decline.