Global PC Shipments Hit Due to Shift in Consumer Preference to Smart Phones

The global PC shipments registered a marginal growth of 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 2011. The growth is slightly lower than expected due to the slowdown and shift in consumer preference to smart phones and Apple's (News - Alert) iPad tablet, according to China-telecommunications.com.

Earlier, the market agency had forecast that the global PC shipments in the second-quarter would grow 2.9 percent, according to a press statement. IT major HP retains its number one position as the PC vendor, accounting for 18.1 percent of the global market share.

Dell ranked the second with a market share of 12.9 percent. The third place is occupied by Lenovo (News - Alert), taking a market share of 12.2 percent, according to China-telecommunications. “The global PC shipments in the second quarter were 84.4 million units. The sales growth of Lenovo in the U.S. helps it to exceed Acer (News - Alert),” said China-telecommunications.com's analyst. “Acer ranked the fourth now.”

The sales of netbooks in the U.S. market in the second quarter declined by 4.2 percent. The sales of Apple's Mac in the U.S. market in the second-quarter grew by nearly 15 percent, which helped Apple become the third largest U.S. PC vendor, accounting for 10.7 percent of U.S. market share.Recently, market research agency IDC said that the growth of shipments of China's PC will slow to 10.8 percent in 2011. But PC shipments in China's tier 4-6 cities will maintain year-on-year growth of 14.3 percent in 2011.