IDC Says Q2 Global PC Shipments Down 11.4%, Lenovo Top Vendor

(RTTNews) - Market intelligence services provider International Data Corporation or IDC, announced late Wednesday that global PC shipments in the second quarter of fiscal 2013 declined 11.4 percent from last year, with China's Lenovo overtaking HP as the top vendor. This came in slightly better than IDC's expectations, due to improved performance in the U.S. The continued popularity of latest smartphones and media tablets continued to eat into PC market share.

Looking ahead, IDC noted that it sees stronger performance in coming quarters with more commercial replacements as the market gets closer to the end of Windows XP support. Also, "efforts by the PC ecosystem to bring down price points and embrace touch computing should make PCs more attractive." IDC revealed in its Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker that global PC shipments decreased 11.4 percent in the second quarter to 75.63 million units from last year's 85.37 million units, slightly better than IDC's projections for a 11.7 percent drop.

Meanwhile, Gartner, Inc. (IT) also reported that Worldwide PC shipments declined 10.9 percent to 76.0 million units in the second quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, it said U.S. PC shipments decreased 1.4 percent to 14.98 million units in the second quarter.

Gartner noted that "This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of declining shipments, which is the longest duration of decline in the PC market's history."

In a statement, research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Jay Chou said, "With second quarter growth so close to forecast, we are still looking for some improvement in growth during the second half of the year. Slower growth in Europe and China reflect the risks, while the improved U.S. outlook reflects potential improvement."

According to IDC, the global PC shipments decline reflected a market that is still struggling with the transition to touch-based systems running Windows 8 as well as justifying ultrabook prices in the face of economic pressures and competition from tablets and other devices.

For global PC shipments in the second quarter, Lenovo Group Ltd. (LNVGY.PK)overtook Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) as the top vendor, but saw shipments decline 1.4 percent and slowdown in growth from prior quarters. HP, at second spot, also reported a 7.7 percent drop in shipments, but growth improved from recent quarters.

Dell, Inc. (DELL), maintained its third spot, reporting a 4.3 percent shipment decline, but remained below the 10 million units per quarter mark. Taiwan-based Acer, Inc. remained at the fourth spot, but shipments plunged 32.6 percent on substantial declines in shipments across regions. ASUS, another Taiwanese player, was at fifth spot, but also reporting a 21.1 percent drop in shipments.

The U.S. market saw a year-over-year drop of 1.9 percent in PC shipments to 15.65 million units, but improved drastically from the double-digit declines in three of the past four quarters. HP and Dell represented nearly 50 percent of total U.S. PC shipments in the second quarter.

HP, though holding on to the first spot, reported a 4.1 percent drop in shipments in the U.S., while Dell, at second spot, reported a 5.8 percent improvement. Apple, Inc. (AAPL) reported a 0.5 percent drop, and was at third spot. In the U.S. market, Lenovo was at the fourth spot with a 19.6 percent growth, while Acer, at fifth spot, recorded the maximum shipment drop of 19.5 percent. "The U.S. market is beginning to reflect some of the Windows XP to Windows 7 transition we've been expecting in the commercial PC space, as evidenced by the strong growth in the enterprise-focused Dell PC business," said Bob O'Donnell, Program Vice President, Clients and Displays.