Worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter of 2013 fell 11.2% from a year earlier to 79.2 million units, the lowest levels since the second quarter of 2009, according to preliminary results released by market research firm Gartner, Inc. (IT) Wednesday.
All regions showed a decrease in shipments, with the EMEA region experiencing the steepest decline, Gartner said.
"In the first quarter of 2013, it was the fourth consecutive quarter that showed a drop in worldwide PC shipments," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "Consumers are migrating content consumption from PCs to other connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones. Even emerging markets, where PC penetration is low, are not expected to be a strong growth area for PC vendors.
According to shipment figures released by Gartner, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and China's Lenovo were in a virtual tie for the top position in the first quarter of 2013
HP's worldwide PC shipments fell 23.6% to about 11.69 million units in the first quarter, its worst shipment decline since the acquisition of Compaq in 2003, Gartner said. HP's market share fell to 14.8% in the first quarter from 17.2% in the first quarter of last year.
On the other hand, Lenovo's shipments edged up 0.1% to about 11.67 million units in the first quarter, with market share growing to 14.7% from 13.1% a year earlier. It was Lenovo's slowest growth since the first quarter of 2009. The slowdown was attributed to a shipment decline in Asia/Pacific, where more than 50% of Lenovo's PCs were shipped.
In the first quarter, Dell, Inc.'s (DELL) shipments declined 11.2% to about 8.73 million units, while Taiwanese firm Acer's shipments dropped 29.3% to about 6.84 million units.
In the U.S. market, first quarter PC shipments fell 9.6% from a year earlier to 14.2 million units, and marked a record of six consecutive quarters of shipment declines, Gartner said.
HP remained the top PC vendor in the first quarter, accounting for 24.2% of PC shipments in the U.S.; but its shipments declined 23.3% from the first quarter of 2012. Dell was in the second position followed by Apple Inc. (AAPL).
Apple and Lenovo were the only vendors among the top five in the U.S. to experience PC shipment growth in the first quarter, Gartner data showed.
Another market research firm International Data Corp., or IDC, said global PC shipments fell 13.9% to 76.3 million units in the first three months of 2013, the steepest year-over-year decline since the firm began tracking the PC market's quarterly performance in 1994.
According to IDC, HP managed to hold onto its position as the world's top PC vendor with a 15.7% market share. However, HP's PC shipents dropped 23.7% to nearly 12 million units. Lenovo was in the second position with with shipments of11.7 million units, while Dell was in the third position.
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