Global PC shipments has reached 93.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, an increase of 3.1%, compared to the same quarter of 2009, and a drop of 1.7 percentage points compared with the earlier forecast of 4.8% for Q4 2010, according to a IT research and advisory firm Gartner.
HP maintained the top spot in global PC shipments accounting for 18.8% of the total market share, even thought its shipment rate was below the industry average as the company registered weak demand for consumer PC business in the US.
Acer posted a market growth rate of 12.7%, while Dell registered 11.6% during the fourth quarter of 2010.
Gartner said that Dell benefited from professional PC refreshes across key regions as its shipment growth was better than regional averages across most regions.
However, Dell’s weaker presence in the consumer segment meant the company was not affected as much as some other vendors due to disappointing holiday sales.
Lenovo marked the strongest year-on-year growth among the top 5 vendors, with a growth rate of 21.4% in the Q4 2010.
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Geographically, PC shipments in EMEA totaled 32 million units, an increase of 6.2% in Q4 2010, signalling a weak economic environment, as restrained consumer wallets shifted away from PCs to other consumer electronic devices including media tablets, gaming machines and e-readers.
In the US, PC shipments totaled 19.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 6.6% decline compared to the fourth quarter of 2009.
In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 27.9 million units, up 4.1% from the fourth quarter of 2009.
Fourth quarter PC shipments in Asia/Pacific were primarily affected by the decrease of shipments into the consumer market.
The PC market in Latin America grew 15% in the fourth quarter of 2010 as shipments totaled 8.9 million units.
The reseach firm said that Mobile PC shipments in Latin America increased 17.1% in the quarter, and desk-based PC shipments grew approximately 12.6%.
PC shipments in Japan grew 3% in the Q4 2010, as shipments reached 3.8 million units. The market experienced a late boost from demand of XP preinstalled PCs from dealers/resellers in October.
Gartner said for the year, global PC shipments totaled 350.9 million units in 2010, a 13.8% increase from 2009. This growth rate was an improvement from 2009 when PC shipments increased by 5.5%.
Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said overall, holiday PC sales were weak in many key regions due to the intensifying competition in consumer spending.
"Media tablets, such as the iPad, as well as other consumer electronic (CE) devices, such as game consoles, all competed against PCs and the bright side of the PC market during the fourth quarter of 2010 was a steady growth in the professional market driven by replacement purchases," Kitagawa said.
"However, the PC market will face challenges going forward with more intensified competition among consumer spending."
