Global 4Q12 PC shipments slip 5%, says Gartner

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 90.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 4.9% decline from the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Gartner.

"Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by 'cannibalizing' PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC. There will be some individuals who retain both, but we believe they will be exception and not the norm. Therefore, we hypothesize that buyers will not replace secondary PCs in the household, instead allowing them to age out and shifting consumption to a tablet."

"This transformation was triggered by the availability of compelling low-cost tablets in 2012, and will continue until the installed base of PCs declines to accommodate tablets as the primary consumption device," Kitagawa continued. "On the positive side for vendors, the disenfranchised PCs are those with lighter configurations, which mean that we should see an increase in PC ASPs as users replace machines used for richer applications, rather than for consumption."

During the holiday season, consumers no longer viewed PCs as the number one gift item, Gartner indicated. Given a burgeoning variety of increasingly more attractive devices and services, consumers directed their attention elsewhere. There was uptake of very low priced notebooks as a part of mega holiday deals, but this uptake did little to boost holiday PC sales, Gartner noted.

The launch of Microsoft's Windows 8 did not have a significant impact on PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2012. Gartner said that some PC vendors offered somewhat lackluster form factors in their Windows 8 offerings and missed the excitement of touch. New products are coming to market, and this could drive churn within the installed base, Gartner added.

In addition, Gartner revealed that HP retained the No. 1 position in the fourth quarter of 2012, thanks to good results across all products in the professional PC segment. Among the top five vendors, only Lenovo showed on-year growth and its strong performance in the quarter helped it displace Acer from the No. 2 position.

For the year, PC shipments were 352.7 million units, a 3.5% decline from 2011, according to Gartner. HP retained the top spot in the global PC market, accounting for 16% of the market. Lenovo was the No. 2 vendor with 14.8% market share. Asustek Computer showed the strongest growth among the top five vendors, with shipments increasing 17.1%.

Gartner: Preliminary worldwide PC vendor unit shipment estimates, 4Q12 (units)
Company	4Q12 shipments	4Q12 market share	4Q11 shipments	4Q11 market share	4Q12-4Q11 growth
HP	14,645,041	16.2%	14,711,280	15.5%	(0.5%)
Lenovo	13,976,668	15.5%	12,915,766	13.6%	8.2%
Dell	9,206,391	10.2%	11,633,387	12.2%	(20.9%)
Acer	8,622,701	9.5%	9,690,624	10.2%	(11.0%)
Asustek	6,528,228	7.2%	6,133,042	6.5%	6.4%
Others	37,393,913	41.4%	39,934,184	42.0%	(6.4%)
Total	90,372,942	100.0%	95,018,284	100.0%	(4.9%)

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Data is based on the shipments selling into channels.
Source: Gartner, compiled by Digitimes, January 2013

Gartner: Preliminary worldwide PC vendor unit shipment estimates, 2012 (units)
Company	2012 shipments	2012 market share	2011 shipments	2011 market share	2012-2011 growth
HP	56,508,218	16.0%	60,553,740	16.6%	(6.7%)
Lenovo	52,159,229	14.8%	45,688,493	12.5%	14.2%
Dell	37,611,747	10.7%	42,864,265	11.7%	(12.3%)
Acer Group	36,661,066	10.4%	39,282,791	10.8%	(6.7%)
Asustek	24,206,696	6.9%	20,678,302	5.7%	17.1%
Others	145,554,478	41.3%	156,278,584	42.8%	(6.9%)
Total	352,701,433	100.0%	365,364,175	100.0%	(3.5%)

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Data is based on the shipments selling into channels.
Source: Gartner, compiled by Digitimes, January 2013