Worldwide PC shipments increased by 3.6% in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the same quarter in 2010, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.
The results are up slightly from the 2.7% growth experienced in Q2 2011, and just below IDC’s August projections for 4.5% growth in the quarter.
The report said that the Asia/Pacific markets were slightly ahead of expectations, while the Americas and EMEA were slightly below.
The market continues to struggle as consumer discretionary income is diverted to other areas and business spending remains depressed in light of other priorities and a potential double-dip recession, IDC said.
IDC vice president of Worldwide Consumer Device Trackers Loren Loverde said most vendors continue to struggle with the slow market environment and product changes.
"Although we don’t see media tablets and other devices replacing PCs, questions on how products will evolve, and consumer interest in these and other categories are providing a distraction," Loverde said.
"And while price remains critical, many users are delaying PC purchases for the moment. Still, there are opportunities, as demonstrated by Lenovo’s gains, and we expect PCs to find stronger demand in the coming years."
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"The US market came in about flat as expected, but failed to generate positive momentum given the state of saturation and lack of incentives for consumers to upgrade. Other inhibitors included the poor economic environment and, to a certain extent, iPad cannibalization," said David Daoud, IDC’s Personal Computing Research Director.
"As we approach the holiday season, the opportunity for low single-digit growth is real, but mostly as a result of poor market conditions last year, as opposed to a recovery in demand."
The US market moved out of negative growth and HP registered strong growth going into the holiday season.
Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) performed in line with forecast as the PC market continued to shrink in the third quarter across both desktop and portable form factors.
Japan continued to see growth in low single-digits. Lenovo finalised its merger with NEC, leveraging its scale and becoming the clear market leader.
Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) had a strong quarter with double-digit growth, meeting expected volume, and the region managed to regain momentum, reversing two previous quarters of only single digit growth due to gains in China and India, as well as good volume in Indonesia and Thailand.
HP grew 5.3% year on year, despite the company’s management missteps in the past few months; while Dell continued to make gains in APeJ and CEMA, but declines in more mature regions pulled overall growth to -1.6% year on year.
Lenovo experienced strong gains across all regions, and has now outpaced the market by more than 10% for the past 9 quarters, and by 20% or more in six of these periods, resulting Lenovo to move ahead of Dell in Q3 2011.
Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang said the company has captured incredible marketplace momentum to surpass two competitors to capture the #2 spot in worldwide PCs over the span of just two quarters.
"This is the highest rank Lenovo has achieved in worldwide PC sales and, given the current competitive environment, positions the company as a strong challenger to ultimately become the global market leader," Yang said.
"We are growing in the enterprise and the consumer space – and our customers know we are fully committed to the PC market for the long term. At the same time, we will continue to invest in innovative products that will help drive the convergence of technologies and services across all four screens – smart phones, tablets, PCs and smart TV."
Acer continued to struggle with inventory clearing and adjusting its strategy following declines in mini notebooks and its management shake-up. Total shipments were down 20.6% from a year ago.
ASUS had a strong quarter, boosting growth to over 30%, with strong gains in Asia/Pacific, along with improvements in EMEA, helping the company to overtake Toshiba for the number 5 spot in worldwide shipments.
Apple Total shipments increased more than 20% in the third quarter, recovering from a dip to 15% growth in the second quarter but otherwise continuing a trend of more than 2 years with over 20% growth.
