 "Worldwide Year-End PC Shipments Increased 13.8%")
Worldwide PC shipments totalled 93.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 3.1 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2009, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. These figures were below Gartner’s earlier forecast of 4.8 percent growth for the fourth quarter of 2010.
“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,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst, Gartner. “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. For all 2010, the results indicate the PC market recovered from the recession, as it returned to double-digit growth, compared to low single-digit growth in 2009. However, the PC market will face challenges going forward with more intensified competition among consumer spending.”
HP maintained the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010, but its shipment growth was below the worldwide average (see Table below). The preliminary results showed that HP’s professional business had solid growth, but it was offset by a weak consumer PC business in the U.S. However, HP did well in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) professional and consumer markets. Asia/Pacific continued to be a challenging region for HP.
Acer faced challenges in the fourth quarter of 2010 due to a slowdown in the overall consumer mobile PC market. The company was impacted by a weakening mini-notebook segment. Due to a lower presence in the professional PC market, Acer could not benefit from the professional PC refresh demand.
Dell benefitted from professional PC refreshes across key regions. Dell’s shipment growth was better than regional averages across most regions. 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. Lenovo’s strength was derived from the replacement purchases in the professional PC market, as well as its on-going efforts of getting into the consumer market.
In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 27.9 million units, a 4.1 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2009. Fourth quarter PC shipments were primarily affected by the decrease of shipments into the consumer market. Consumer buying has become more discretionary with buyers both adopting a wait and see attitude due to the distraction of media tablets and cautious due to lack of confidence on the recovery of the world economies.
The PC market in Latin America grew 15 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 as shipments totaled 8.9 million units. Mobile PC shipments increased 17.1 percent in the quarter, and desk-based PC shipments grew approximately 12.6 percent.
PC shipments in Japan grew 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 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.
For the year, worldwide PC shipments totalled 350.9 million units in 2010, a 13.8 percent increase from 2009 (see Table below). This growth rate was an improvement from 2009 when PC shipments increased 5.5 percent.
Among top 5 PC vendors, Lenovo’s shipment growth well exceeded the worldwide average. Lenovo’s growth was driven by strong professional growth as well as expansion into consumer space outside of China.
