Q3 PC Shipments Show Modest Growth

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 10/13/2011

New York - Worldwide PC shipments rose just more than 3 percent for the third quarter, but were flat in the U.S., according to IDC and Gartner.

The worldwide increase and flat U.S. figure was slightly below each of the companies projections for the quarter, with IDC having expected a 4.5 percent increase and Gartner anticipating 5.1 percent growth.

Gartner blamed a weaker-than-anticipated back-to-school selling season along with a general shift to tablets and other, non-PCs by consumers for the lower shipment numbers.

Preliminary United States PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q11 (Units)

Company 3Q11 Shipments 3Q11 Market Share (%) 3Q10 Shipments 3Q10 Market Share (%) 3Q10-3Q11 Growth (%) HP 5,132,614 28.9 4,459,120 25.4 15.1 Dell 3,886,864 21.9 4,188,687 23.8 -7.2 Apple 2,300,000 12.9 1,893,600 10.8 21.5 Toshiba 1,486,100 8.4 1,545,630 8.8 -3.9 Acer Group 1,378,768 7.8 1,848,511 10.5 -25.4 Others 3,580,989 20.2 3,635,684 20.7 -1.5 Total 17,765,335 100 17,571,232 100 1.1 Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Final estimates will be subject to change. Source: Gartner (October 2011

IDC pointed to similar issues and expects PC shipments to have single-digit growth through the fourth quarter, with stronger gains in 2012. This growth will come from consumers being exposed to more ultra-mobile laptops that will better compete with tablets.

Hewlett-Packard remained the top shipper of PCs into the U.S. market, increasing shipments 15.1 percent for the quarter. This is despite a tremendous amount of upheaval at the company that included seeing its CEO Leo Apotheker fired by its board, the hiring of Meg Whitman as the new CEO and the company stating it is entertaining the idea of selling or spinning off the PC group.

Dell saw its shipments fall 7 percent for the quarter, but the company retained its No. 2 spot.

Apple also experienced very healthy growth as the No. 3 supplier on both lists.

Fourth-place Toshiba saw its shipment totals and share fall on 1.4 million units shipped.

IDC and Gartner differed on the fifth place PC vendor.

IDC gave the nod to Lenovo, reporting that it had shipped 1.52 million units, for an overall 6.8 percent share of the PC market.

Gartner placed Acer fifth on shipments of 1.37 million, for a 7.8 percent share.

Worldwide Lenovo was the big winner. The company moved into second place behind HP on shipments in excess of 12 million units. IDC and Gartner credited Lenovo with a market share in the 13.5 range.

Dell, Acer and Asus finished out both companies' top PC vendor lists.

Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, Third Quarter 2011 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)

Rank Vendor 3Q11 Market 3Q10 Market 3Q11/3Q10           Shipments Share Shipments Share Growth 1 HP 16,652 18.10% 15,811 17.80% 5.30% 2 Lenovo 12,579 13.70% 9,242 10.40% 36.10% 3 Dell 11,007 12.00% 11,183 12.60% -1.60% 4 Acer Group 9,207 10.00% 11,592 13.10% -20.60% 5 ASUS 6,002 6.50% 4,610 5.20% 30.20%   Others 36,432 39.70% 36,241 40.90% 0.50%   All Vendors 91,879 100.00% 88,679 100.00% 3.60% Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, October 12, 2011