Felix Richter writes:  Worldwide PC shipments hit an eight-year low in 2015 after declining for the fourth consecutive year.

Global shipments dropped by 8 percent to 289 million in 2015, the lowest it’s been since 2007.

The decline of the PC industry started in 2012, around the time when tablet sales really took off. After a brief respite in 2014, when PC sales were virtually flat thanks to the end of official support for the popular WIndows XP and the subsequent upgrade cycle, the market’s decline re-accelerated in 2015 despite the release of Windows 10 in July.

Gartner attributes the weak market performance at least partially to currency effects, which negatively affected sales in EMEA, Japan and Latin America. However, the analysts also see a structural change happening that will lead to fewer people using PCs over the next few years.