PC shipments flat in Q2

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

PC shipments were flat in the second quarter of the year, according to just-released data from market research firms Gartner and International Data Corp.

Total worldwide shipments of new PCs were 87.5 million units in Q2 — down approximately 0.1 percent versus the same period in 2011, according to Gartner. However, when taken individually, the U.S. market fared much worse than expected, shrinking by 10.6 percent compared to Q2 2011. The Asia/Pacific market also saw a drop in growth, which contributed to the poor performance.

The two research firms attributed the lackluster numbers to continued economic uncertainty, high interest and demand for other tech products, such as tablets and smartphones, and the impending launch of Windows 8 this fall, which is expected to coincide with significant hardware redesigns to accommodate the new user interface.

HP, Lenovo, Acer, Dell and Asus shipped the most units in the second quarter, with Lenovo nearly claiming the top spot, thanks to significant growth in the past year at HP's expense. Together, the five firms control around 57 percent of the global PC market. The U.S. market is significantly more concentrated, with HP, Dell, Apple, Acer and Toshiba controlling over 75 percent of the market.

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