Gartner reports EMEA PC shipments total 26.1m units in Q1 2011-- a 2.8% decline from Q1 2010 (where shipments totalled 26.9m).

This is the first show of decline for the EMEA market since Q3 2009, where the market declined by 8.9%.

Such decline, according to Gartner, is due to excess inventory accumulating from Q4 2010's end. Such stock was reduced slowly, particularly as delayed Sandy Bridge products entered the market in March.

This year also sees Q4 2010's downward trend continuing into Q1 2011.

All major PC vendors-- including market leaders HP (20.6% EMEA market share), Acer (20.7%) and Dell (9.3%), retaining their positions as from last year-- record declines in shipments when compared to Q1 2010.

The EMEA's area of weakness? W. Europe, where consumers continue delaying their PC-related spending, particularly after the iPad 2's launch-- leading to the extention of current PC's life cycles.

Meanwhile WW Q1 2011 PC shipment charts show similar Y-o-Y declines. coming below Gartner's earlier forecasts.

WW PC shipments for Q1 2011 total 84.3m units-- a 1.1% Y-o-Y decline from Q1 2010's 100.1m units. HP retains its position as market leader, accounting for 17.6% WW market share, followed by Acer (14.6%) and Dell (12%), all of which show declines, particularly Acer (with above average decline of -12.2%).

Go Gartner Says WW PC Shipments in Q1 2011 Suffer Y-o-Y Decline in 6 Quarters