Worldwide desktop and notebook computer sales will continue dropping but could rebound in 2018, according to a new forecast.

That’s not good news for Lenovo, the world’s No. 1 PC maker that maintains one of its two corporate headquarters in Morrisville. Lenovo has seen sales fall overall even as it continues to win global market share. (The forecast from International Data Corporation does not include tablet sales.)

In June, IDC reported just how bad the PC sales slump has become: “[W]e have now had four consecutive quarters of double-digit volume declines. This type of prolonged slump is unprecedented.”

There is some good news to be gleaned from recent trends, though. IDC sees a return to growth in sales by 2018.

“The PC market continues on a slow path to stabilization – quite close to prior forecasts,” said Loren Loverde, vice president of Worldwide Tracker Forecasting and PC research for IDC. She cited multiple reasons for continuing turmoil in the PC market.

“The political and economic disruptions, as well as the small shift in growth from tablets to notebooks that we saw in the second quarter, are small shifts in device replacement and competition between categories,” she explained. “We still expect shipments to stabilize over the medium term, while market leaders will benefit from further consolidation.”

IDC says PC shipments will fall 7.2 percent in 2016 and decline a further 2.1 percent in 2017. Earlier this year IDC said sales would fall 7.3 percent this year and 1.6 percent next year.

PC sales have grown in the U.S., however – one market where Lenovo has shown consistent growth as well.

“Despite the challenges, PC shipments are gradually stabilizing, with some positive (albeit minimal) growth expected in 2018,” IDC reported.

“Competition from other devices and longer device life have been the root causes of slower growth, but both are having less impact, opening the way to PC replacements, particularly in the commercial market. Although detachable tablet shipments continue to grow quickly, growth is slowing from a peak last year and volume has been less than 14% of notebook volume so far this year.

“Commercial notebook growth is expected to peak at almost 5% during the forecast while commercial desktop shipments will return to flat growth.

“In contrast, consumer shipments of both notebook and desktops are expected to decline throughout the forecast. Combining detachable tablets with PCs, the market is projected to decline by 2.8% in 2016 with small positive growth in later years.”