Jan 15, 2017 12:43 PM EST By Eva M. Fernandez, UniversityHerald Reporter

PC sales have been dwindling since 2012, and there are no signs of stopping with the latest numbers showing a 6.2 percent overall annual decline in 2016. PC shipments saw a slight rebound during the holidays, but are ultimately not enough to get its overall sales growing again.

Preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. shows 72.6 million PC units were sold worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2016, which is a 3.7 percent drop from the same period in 2015, Gartner reported. The total PC shipment in 2016 reached 269.7 million units in 2016, which is a 6.2 percent decrease from the number in 2015.

Decline Caused by Change in PC Buying Behavior

Garnter's principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that the slow sale of PC is due to a change in PC buying behavior among consumers. She said that technology improvements are not enough to bring in real market growth for PC.

Though there is stagnation in the overall PC market, Kitagawa said there are still opportunities to grow, especially with the engaged PC user market, gaming market, and business market. However, this is not enough to stop the decline of PC shipments until next year, she added.

The four top vendors of PC saw a worldwide increase in PC shipments during the fourth quarter of 2016. Lenovo leads the PC market, experiencing an increase in shipment in North America and EMEA.

Smartphone's Impact on PC Sales

Kitagawa said that the use of smartphones among consumers has pushed developers to lengthen PC life cycles, Market Watch reported. PC enthusiasts who constantly upgrade their hardware is not enough to offset the number of users who chooses to use smartphones over PC. She said that this part of the market is bigger than the numbers of PC-enthusiasts.

She even noted that big events like Cyber Monday and Black Friday are not enough to drive PC shipment growth. If the number of shipment reaches low enough, then growth may come back, she said. She also said consolidation among troubled companies may continue. 

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit