Worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.7 million units in the first quarter of 2015, a 5.2 percent decline from the first quarter of 2014, according to preliminary results by Gartner. Lenovo and HP were the only two vendors among the top five worldwide that experienced an increase in PC shipments in the first quarter of 2015. In the U.S., HP was the leader with 26.1% with Apple coming in third. Growth winners that beat Apple were Lenovo and ASUS, so Apple's CEO won't be able to say that they beat the industry in PC growth.

The data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and premium ultramobiles. The data excludes Chromebooks, Windows-based tablets with smaller than a 10-inch display, and other non-Windows-based tablets.

Gartner notes that for the first time in six quarters, Dell experienced a worldwide PC shipment decline compared with a year ago. On the Worldwide stage, Apple didn't make the top five.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner stated that "The first quarter results are not a sign doom for the U.S. market. The biggest reason for the decline of PC shipments in the U.S. was attributed to the desktop market, which experienced a double-digit decline. This was primarily due to the end of the Windows XP replacement cycle." With Windows 10 only due in late Q3, it's likely that consumers are also holding back on upgrades to a certain degree.

In the U.S., HP extended its lead, accounting for 26.1 percent of shipments. Lenovo and ASUS showed the strongest growth among the top five vendors in the U.S., with shipment increases of 13.5 and 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2015.

Other than showing up in the U.S. PC Vendor table above, Apple wasn't mentioned whatsoever in the Gartner report. While Apple's notebook refresh may provide a bit of a boost for next quarter, it's doubtful that the new MacBook will move the needle much. Reviews from The Wall Street Journal (see video review below), USA TODAY and Wired (see video review below) surfaced today and while they all applauded Apple's forward thinking about the future of notebooks, they all agreed that it was too ahead of the curve and definitely overpriced for what you got in terms of power, battery life and ports. 

Lenovo is challenging Apple in the PC space and may overtake them over the course of the year when Windows 10 comes to market in late Q3. Lenovo's growth is noted in table 2 above as coming in at a healthy 13.5% beating out Apple's 8.9%.

When shopping this past weekend I dropped in the Microsoft Store which is near the Apple Store in my favorite mall. I was surprised at how dominant Lenovo products had become compared to those from HP. Their aggressive positioning helped to boost sales this quarter.

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