Sales of personal computers fell in the final quarter of 2015 to their lowest level since 2007, the year Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone, according to data released Tuesday by industry researcher International Data Corp.

The forces aligned against the PC industry amounted to a triple whammy: an economic slowdown in China, a strong U.S. dollar that made computers more costly in Europe, and the inexorable growth of smartphones and other mobile devices.

PC makers shipped 276.2 million units in 2015, said IDC analyst Jay Chou. He had expected PC shipments to decline by 10.3% in 2015. In fact, they dropped by 10.4%.

"2015 is the first time we've had the PC market, from a volume perspective, go below 300 million units since 2008," he said. PC makers shipped 299.6 million units in 2008 and 270.5 million units in 2007, according to Mr. Chou.

IDC rival Gartner Inc. tallied 288.7 million shipments for the year, an 8% drop. Unlike IDC, Gartner includes sales of tablets in its shipment data.

Both research firms found that shipments slid during the fourth quarter of 2015 by the top three PC vendors: Lenovo Group Ltd., HP Inc., and Dell Inc. Lenovo retained its top place with 15.4 million units shipped, followed by HP (14.3 million) and Dell (10.2 million).

HP, which recently concluded its first quarter after splitting into two separate business units, saw the biggest drop in fourth-quarter PC shipments, declining 10.1% year-over-year. Dell shipments declined 5.7%, Lenovo 4.5%. Fourth-Place Asustek Computer Inc. saw shipments rise by 0.8%. Apple Inc.'s shipments rose 2.8%, IDC said.

Write to Robert McMillan at Robert.Mcmillan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2016 16:55 ET (21:55 GMT)

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