Lenovo is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the ThinkPad, but the latest sales news is taking some of the excitement out of the celebration.

One paragraph from the latest report on global PC sales sums up the gloomy news that continues to surround Lenovo. And, digging deeper, the data is even worse in the U.S.

Reports research firm Gartner:

In the third quarter of 2017, HP Inc. and Lenovo were in a virtual tie for the top spot in the PC market based on shipments. However, HP Inc. is in an upward trend, as it has experienced five consecutive quarter of global PC growth, while Lenovo is in a downward trend with declining shipments in eight of the last 10 quarters.

Both Gartner and rival IDC reported Tuesday that PC sales have stabilized. But HP is showing strength, growing sales, while Lenovo is continuing to see declines.

And in no market is the news more stark – or alarming – than in the U.S.

Lenovo’s sales in this country fell 25 percent year-over-year to 1.8 million, and its market share plunged a full 2.5 percentage points to 12.2 percent. US markets have in the recent past been a source of positive news for Lenovo, which operates one of its two global headquarters in Morrisville.

No longer.

“Lenovo experienced its steepest year-over-year decline of PC shipments in the U.S. since it acquired the IBM PC business division in 2005,” Gartner reports.

“Lenovo continues to face the dilemma of market share gains versus profitability. It appears the company is putting more emphasis on profitability than share gain.”

The view is no better for Lenovo in IDC’s report.

“Lenovo held the second position with volume holding flat at 0.1% year-over-year growth,” IDC reports. “The company continued to struggle in North America, with weak notebook sales, but also seemed to have slowed its recent decline in Asia/Pacific.”

Lenovo lost toe No. 1 PC sales slot in both the IDC and Gartner reports during the second quarter, ending a four-year hold on that rank.

HP’s surge

Just as in the US, HP leads globally with sales improving year-over-year in the latest quarter by 6 percent. HP’s 15.3 million shipments is good for a 22.8 percent market share, says Gartner.

IDC reported similar figures.

Lenovo’s share improved slightly to 21.6 percent on shipments of 14.5 million, says IDC.

Dell continued its grip on No. 3 witha 16.1 percent share (IDC) and 15.2 percent (Gartner).

Overall, Gartner says global shipments were down 3.6 percent year-over-year to 67 million.

IDC cited similar numbers but its year-over-year data showed a much smaller decline of under 1 percent.

“While there were signs of stabilization in the PC industry in key regions, including EMEA, Japan and Latin America, the relatively stable results were offset by the U.S. market, which saw a 10 percent year-over-year decline in part because of a very weak back-to-school sales season,” reported Mika Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

“Business PC demand, led by Windows 10 upgrades, continued to drive PC shipments across all regions, but its refresh schedule varies by region. The countries with stable economies, such as the U.S., have created a positive sentiment among businesses, especially for small and midsized businesses (SMBs), which are more vulnerable to external events, such as economic or political.”

IDC’s assessment?

“The traditional PC market performed much as expected in the third quarter,” said Loren Loverde, program vice president for IDC’s Worldwide PCD Trackers. “Emerging markets rebounded slightly more than anticipated, but overall results reflect the stabilization we expected following component and inventory adjustments. The outlook for the fourth quarter remains cautious, likely with a small decline in volume for the quarter and the year. The gains in emerging regions and potential for more commercial replacements represent some upside potential, although we continue to expect incremental declines in total shipments for the next few years.”