According to a Gartner report, PC shipments in Western Europe declined 11.7% to 15.3 million units in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2012, compared to 17.3 million units for the same period in 2011.

Overall PC shipments in 2012 were also lower than 2011, totalling 58 million units, a decrease of 8.4%.

PC segments in Western Europe declined in Q4 2012 with mobile as well as desktop PC shipments decreasing 12.1% and 10.9% respectively.

According to Gartner, the decrease in the professional PC market was less severe due to replacement purchases while the consumer PC market declined 17.6% year-on-year.

Gartner principal research analyst, Meike Escherich, said the PC market in Western Europe is in a downward spiral.

"In 2012, it experienced the second consecutive year of decline, but less steeply than in 2011, when the PC market in Western Europe decreased 14 percent," Escherich said.

"The second consecutive yearly decline indicates that the issues the PC market faces are beyond a weak economy, a poorly understood new operating system, or Ultramobiles being priced too high to generate demand."

Among the vendors, HP lost its share in the mobile and home PC segments in Western Europe in Q4 but had a 10% market share in the desktop and professional PC markets.

Acer, Lenovo and Asus had a 11% market share in Q4 2012 with Acer dropping to third place behind Asus in the home PC segment.

Lenovo’s professional PC market share increased 4% in Q4 along with a 65% rise in the consumer PC market.

Dell dropped to fifth place, with shipments in the consumer PC market nearly halved from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Gartner said Dell also felt the pressure from HP and Lenovo in the professional PC segment, where both vendors focused on gaining share over increasing their profit protection.

"In the future, we expect buyers will not replace secondary or tertiary PCs in their households by allowing them to become obsolete, preferring instead to purchase tablets. We should see an increase in PC margins as users favor PCs with richer applications." Escherich said.

PC shipments in the UK decreased 0.7% to 3.1 million units in Q4 2012. France PC shipments declined 13.6% to 2.5 million units.

PC shipments in Germany totalled 3.4 million units in Q4 2012, a decrease of 11.9% when compared to the same period previous year.