PC makers sold 264 million units in all of 2019, according to data collected by Gartner and IDC, a gain of 1.9 percent year-over-year. That may not sound like much—indeed, many might accurately describe that figure as “flat”—but after seven straight years of falling PC sales, we’re going to take it as a victory. Most likely a temporary one, since PC makers benefitted last year from the pending retirement of Windows 7, which triggered the small rebound.

That said, it’s possible we’ll see some positive results this year too as the Windows 7 upgrades continue.

“The PC market experienced growth for the first time since 2011, driven by vibrant business demand for Windows 10 upgrades, particularly in the U.S., EMEA, and Japan,” Gartner’s Mikako Kitagawa said in a prepared statement. “We expect this growth to continue through this year even after Windows 7 support comes to an end this month, as many businesses in emerging regions such as China, Eurasia, and the emerging Asia/Pacific have not yet upgraded.”

“This past year was a wild one in the PC world, which resulted in impressive market growth that ultimately ended seven consecutive years of market contraction,” IDC’s Ryan Reiths said in a prepared statement. “The market will still have its challenges ahead, but this year was a clear sign that PC demand is still there despite the continued insurgence of emerging form factors and the demand for mobile computing.”

Much of 2019’s growth came in the 4th quarter, according to both Gartner and IDC: PC sales hit 71.2 million units in the quarter, up 3.5 percent from the 68.8 million sold in the year-ago quarter.

Lenovo remained the world’s biggest maker of PCs, with 63.9 million units sold in 2019, good for 24 percent of all sales. HP was number two, with 60.4 million units sold (22.9 percent marketshare). Dell, Apple, and Acer rounded out the top five, with Apple’s Mac platform landing at 6.8 percent marketshare for the year.

I’ll be writing more about PC marketshare soon.

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