Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q11 (Units) New York - The slumping economy and pressure from tablet PC sales contributed to lower computer shipments during the second quarter, according to reports by IDC and Gartner.

Gartner reported worldwide shipments inched up 2.3 percent for the second quarter, while IDC put the figure at 2.6 percent.

However, shipments in the U.S. markeT did not fare as well falling 4.2 percent, said IDC, with Gartner pointing to a 5.6 percent fall off.

Neither company includes tablet PCs in its PC shipment figures, these are tracked separately.

Hewlett-Packard remained the worldwide shipment leader on both reports, followed by Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus and Toshiba, stated Gartner. Dell moved back into second place based on strong Asia/Pacific sales, displacing Acer which fell to fourth. Gartner blamed the decline on its low-price, high-volume business model which the research firm no longer considers effective.

IDC's list mirrored Gartner's, but did not include a sixth company.

 

Company 2Q11 Shipments 2Q11 Market Share (%) 2Q10 Shipments 2Q10 Market Share (%) 2Q10-2Q11 Growth (%) HP 14,888,086 17.5 14,454,971 17.4 3 Dell 10,621,436 12.5 10,283,074 12.3 3.3 Lenovo 10,225,358 12 8,349,272 10 22.5 Acer 9,298,989 10.9 11,689,255 14 -20.4 Asus 4,467,611 5.2 4,306,241 5.2 3.7 Toshiba 4,411,400 5.2 4,497,576 5.4 -1.9 Others 31,306,987 36.7 29,732,493 35.7 5.3 Total 85,219,865 100 83,312,882 100 2.3

Part of the shipment slowdown was due to the very strong shipment numbers posted during the first half of 2010.

"These preliminary results continue to reflect pressure from competing consumer and business products as well as cautious spending," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Nevertheless, product refreshes and promotions in the second half of the year as well as easier year-ago data should boost growth in the second half of the year."

The U.S. market faced a slew of problems during the quarter. IDC research analyst Rajani Singh noted the fall in the netbook category, tied to the 12 percent growth posted a year ago and consumer interest in tablets combined to push down shipments.

Gartner also fingered U.S. consumer spending and tablets as soft spots.

"Given the hype around media tablets such as the iPad, retailers were very conservative in placing orders for PCs. Instead, they wanted to secure space for media tablets. Some PC vendors had to lower their inventory through promotions, while others slimmed their product lines at retailers," said Gartner's Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst.

HP retained top spot shipping 4.5 million units, a 1.2 percent dip, for 26.9 percent of the market. Dell placed second on 3.8 million units shipped, down 9.8 percent, for 22.6 percent of the market.

Gartner had Apple as the top performer for the second quarter with shipments increasing 8.5 percent to 1.8 million, 10.7 percent share. Toshiba also did well increasing its shipments 3.3 percent to 1.6 million for 9.6 percent of the market. Acer's U.S. figures reflected its worldwide performance with shipments falling a tremendous 22.6 percent to 3.5 million for a 9.3 share.

IDC's top five U.S. leaders matched Gartner's list with the same companies posting increases or decreases in units shipped.

The firms did expect a stronger second half. Mainly because the comparative numbers from the latter half of 2010 will be easier to match.

IDC's Top 5 Vendors, United States PC Shipments, Second Quarter 2011 (Preliminary)

Rank Vendor 2Q11 Market 2Q10 Market 2Q11/2Q10           Shipments Share Shipments Share Growth 1 HP 4,692 26.30% 4,721 25.30% -0.60% 2 Dell 3,959 22.20% 4,408 23.70% -10.20% 3 Apple 1,917 10.70% 1,671 9.00% 14.70% 4 Toshiba 1,617 9.10% 1,560 8.40% 3.70% 5 Acer Group 1,513 8.50% 2,028 10.90% -25.40%                 Others 4,159 23.30% 4,243 22.80% -2.00%                 All Vendors 17,857 100.00% 18,632 100.00% -4.20%     Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, July 13, 2011   Table Notes:   Some IDC estimates prior to financial earnings reports. Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold. PCs include Desktops, Portables, Mini Notebooks and do not include handhelds, x86 Servers and Media Tablets (i.e. iPad and Android-based Tablets). Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods.     IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker gathers PC market data in over 80 countries by vendor, form factor, brand, processor brand and speed, sales channel and user segment. The research includes historical and forecast trend analysis as well as price band and installed base data.   For more information, or to subscribe to the research, please contact Kathy Nagamine at 650-350-6423 or knagamine@idc.com.               Contact   For more information, contact:   Jay Chou jchou@idc.com 650-350-6464     Rajani Singh rsingh@idc.com 508-988-6961     Michael Shirer press@idc.com 508-935-4200