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Global PC shipments declined in the second quarter of 2012, as increasing sales of tablets and smartphones affected PC sales in mature markets and financial uncertainty in Europe and the US and a slowing Chinese economy also were a drag on the market, research firm Gartner has reported.
The global drop was actually quite small in percentage terms – just 0.1 per cent – and across Asia-Pacific there was in fact a marginal rise of 2 percent in shipments to 31.8 million units.
(Figures for Australia were not available yesterday, but will be published in around six weeks, said Gartner Australia spokesperson Susan Moore).
Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that, despite high expectations for the thin-and-light notebook segment, ultrabooks had failed to lift the market. Shipment volume of ultrabooks was small and had little impact on overall shipment growth, she said (see following story).
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 87.5 million units in the second quarter, a decline of 0.1 percent from the Q2 last year.
“Consumers are less interested in spending on PCs as there are other technology product and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets that they are purchasing. This is more of a trend in the mature markets as PCs are highly saturated in these markets,” Kitagawa said.
H-P continued to occupy top position in worldwide PC shipments, accounting for 14.9 percent of the market, even though its global shipments declined 12.1 percent.
The company faced aggressive pricing from Lenovo in the professional market, and threats from companies such as Asus and Samsung in the crowded consumer sector.
Lenovo’s shipment growth continued to exceed the worldwide average, significantly narrowing the market share gap with H-P and also taking sales from Dell.
