Worldwide PC shipments grew 1.9% during the first quarter of 2012 to 89 million units compared to 87.3 million units recorded during the corresponding quarter in 2011 boosted by stronger demand in Europe, Middle East and Africa, according to a new report.
According to the research firm Gartner, PC shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region increased 6.7% to 28.2 million units during the quarter.
Professional PC shipments were above expectations across most countries, but consumer PC demand still varied greatly by country, the report revealed.
In Asia/Pacific region PC shipments increased 2% to 30.3 million units compared to the same quarter last year, while in China, shipments of desk-based PCs decreased significantly.
Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that EMEA region performed better than expected with PC shipments growing 6.7% in the first quarter of 2012, while Asia/Pacific performed below expectations, in part because of slow growth in India and China.
"While the PC industry has high expectations for strong growth in the emerging markets, the slowdown of these countries in this quarter provides a cautionary notice to vendors that the future growth for the PC industry cannot heavily depend on the emerging markets even though PC penetration in these regions is low," Kitagawa said.
The PC market in Latin America declined 3.2% in the first quarter of 2012 totalling 9 million units.
Mobile PC shipments grew 0.4% during the quarter, while desk-based PC shipments decreased 7.6%.
PC shipments in Japan increased 11.5% in the first quarter of 2012, as shipments reached 4.4 million units which could be due to weak performance in corresponding quarter last year due to Tsunami in March last year.
PC shipments in the US recorded 3.5% decline to 15.5 million units in the first quarter of 201 compared to the same quarter last year.
HP accounted for 17.2% of worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter of 2012 while Lenovo recorded the strongest growth among the top five vendors, as its shipments increased 28.1% boosted by growth in EMEA market.
