Global PC shipments up 3.2% in Q3, tablets hit sales

Global shipments of personal computers grew by 3.2% to 91.8 million during the third quarter of the 2011 calendar year, according to market research firm Gartner.

These results are slightly lower than the IT research and advisory firm's projection of 5.1% growth in the quarter.

Analysts at Gartner observed that weak demand for PCs from the western European market led to lower sales than expected in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) during the quarter.

"The inventory build-up, which slowed growth in the last four quarters, mostly cleared out during the third quarter of this year. However, the PC industry has been performing below normal seasonality," Gartner Principal Analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.

PC growth in the EMEA region reached 26.6 million units in the third quarter of 2011, a 2.9%  decline vis-a-vis the second quarter of 2010. This was the third consecutive quarter that the EMEA region has experienced negative growth, Gartner said.

Mikako said that PC sales were disappointing in mature markets as the popularity of non-PC devices, including media tablets such as the iPad and smartphones, diverted consumer spending.

Gartner said that computer-maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) remained the leader in global PC shipments. Its shipments grew faster than the industry average and its market share reached 17.7% in the third quarter of 2011.

The partnership formed between Lenovo and NEC of Japan in July made the combine the second-largest PC vendor in the worldwide market for the first time, Gartner said.

This rank was earlier held by Dell, which slid to the number three position. Dell's performance was below the industry average in most regions, as the company faced intensified competition in the professional space, where Dell has traditionally been strong.

Acer was the fourth largest vendor, having mostly cleared its inventory buildup in the EMEA region by the third quarter of 2011, followed by Asus and Toshiba. Asus widened the gap with Toshiba, the sixth-largest vendor, by achieving strong growth in China, Gartner said.

"As the PC market faced a slowdown, vendor consolidation has become a more apparent trend in the industry. Lenovo's recent merger with NEC and its acquisition of Medion, as well as HP's announcement that it may spin-off or sell its PC business, underlined this trend during the quarter," Mikako said.

 Gartner said that the PC market in Latin America grew by 19.6% in the third quarter of 2011. Mobile PC shipments grew by 31.1% year-on-year and desk-based PC shipments increased by 6.5% in the third quarter of 2011.

PC sales in Japan grew by 3%, with shipments reaching 3.9 million units, the statement said.