Q2 Worldwide PC Shipments Exceed Expectations

By Colleen Bohen On Aug 6 2007 - 6:00am

Worldwide PC shipments grew about 12 percent during the second quarter of 2007, according to estimates from research firms IDC and Gartner, exceeding both firms' expectations.

Gartner said that with 61.1 million units shipped globally in the second quarter, "the worldwide market continued to be driven by strong consumer PC growth." The firm noted that mobile PC demand remained strong and that it considered Microsoft's newly available Vista software to have had a "minimal" impact on consumer demand.

Hewlett-Packard maintained its position as the leading PC vendor worldwide. The company shipped more than 11 million units in the second quarter, accounting for just under 20 percent of worldwide market share.

Dell was No. 2 with a decline of about 5 percent compared with the second quarter of 2006. For the second quarter of 2007, the company shipped more than 9 million units worldwide, claiming about 15 percent market share.

Lenovo grew 22.2 percent compared to the same quarter last year and regained its No. 3 position after dropping to fourth place in the first quarter of '07. Acer returned to No. 4, followed by Toshiba.

In the United States, Gartner estimated that overall PC shipments in the second quarter totaled 15.7 million units, up 5.9 percent from the same period in 2006.

IDC attributed the regional growth to a number of factors including aggressive competition and repositioning, continuing strength in the portables market. It also noted that while desktop shipments continued to drop, the shipment volume was still higher than it had expected.

Dell was the top vendor in the U.S. market. Gartner noted that the company held onto its lead despite experiencing growth that was below the nation's average in the second quarter; the company's growth declined about 11 percent compared to the same period in the prior year.

"Dell had difficulties in its consumer business," said Mikakao Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner's client computing markets group. He noted that the company made its first major retail shipments to Wal-Mart stores during the quarter but that "volumes were not significant enough to influence its growth performance in the quarter."

HP saw about 26 percent growth in the United States compared with the same period last year and it maintained its position as the No. 2 PC vendor in the region.

According to Gartner's esitimates, HP was followed in order by Gateway, Acer and Toshiba.

Gateway saw its growth decline in the United States by about 7 percent compared with the second quarter of 2006. However, Acer and Toshiba each saw significant growth in the United States compared with the same period last year with increases of about 164 percent and 54 percent, respectively.

While both firms showed similar growth numbers for all of the aforementioned vendors, IDC differed in that it also included Apple in its findings. IDC found that Apple was in the No. 4 position in the United States, followed by Toshiba and Acer. The firm said that Apple saw growth of around 26 percent compared to the same period the year before.

Gartner noted that its numbers are preliminary and that a final report would be available soon. Similarly, IDC said its results come from its worldwide quarterly PC tracker, which it says tracks PC market data in 55 countries by a variety of factors. It noted that the numbers were based on estimates it made prior to the release of the vendors' financial earnings reports.