Smartphones, tablets take heavy toll on PC sales

Global PC shipments totalled 79.2 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a 11.2 percent decline from the first quarter of 2012, research firm Gartner said on Thursday. Global PC shipments went below 80 million units for the first time since the second quarter of 2009, Gartner said in a statement. All regions showed a decrease in shipments, with the EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) region experiencing the steepest decline, it added. The first quarter of FY13 was the fourth consecutive quarter that showed a drop in worldwide PC shipments, Gartner's principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said. "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," Kitagawa added. Unlike the consumer PC segment, the professional PC market, which accounts for about half of overall PC shipments, has seen growth, driven by continuing PC refreshes. HP and Lenovo were in a virtual tie for the top position in the first quarter of 2013 with 11.68 million units and 11.66 million unit shipments, respectively. HP had a market share of 14.8 percent, followed by Lenovo at 14.7 percent and Dell at 11 percent (8.73 million units) share in Q1 2013. It was a very challenging quarter for HP, as it recorded its worst shipment decline since the acquisition of Compaq in 2003, Gartner said. HP's consumer business negatively affected its overall shipment volume, but its professional business was also under attack by competitors, it added. The data includes desk-based and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets like iPad. Lenovo's worldwide PC shipments were flat compared to the year ago period, with the slowdown attributable to a shipment decline in Asia-Pacific, where more than 50 percent of Lenovo's PCs were shipped. Dell also had a challenging quarter, registering a shipment decline in all regions except Japan, Gartner added. In the US market, PC shipments totalled 14.2 million units in Q1 FY13, a 9.6 percent decline from 15.7 million units shipped in first quarter of 2012. PC shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa totalled 23.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a 16 percent decline from the same period last year. In Asia-Pacific, PC shipments dipped 10.3 percent to 27.6 million units in first quarter of 2013 as against the same period last year.