PC shipments drop by 10.9 percent in Q2

The global PC market shows no sign of stabilising, latest reports from Gartner show that 76 million units were shipped in Q2 this year. This is down 10.9 percent from the 85.3 million systems shipped in Q2 2012.

This is the fifth quarter highlighting continued declining shipments. The Gartner data includes desktops, laptops and Ultrabooks. Gartner also added Windows 8 tablets and hybrids into the figures. They didn't include mobile processor powered tablets such as the iPad, Nexus Or Kindle Fire.

Lenovo claimed the top spot in Q2, claiming 16.7 percent of total shipments, or 12.7 million units. Hewlett Packard shipped 12.4 million units for a 16.3 percent share. Acer hit third place with 8.5 percent on 6.3 million shipments. Asus claimed 6 percent for 4.5 million shipments.

It isn't a shock to see Gartner blaming the strong consumer tablet sales as part of the reason for declining sales. Windows 8 has not helped the PC market either although Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa says people should not blame the operating system for the decline. “While Windows 8 has been blamed by some as the reason for the PC market’s decline, we believe this is unfounded as it does not explain the sustained decline in PC shipments, nor does it explain Apple’s market performance (a drop of 4.3 percent in America).”

Part of the issue we feel is that someone who bought a computer in the last couple of years doesn't perhaps feel the need to upgrade now every year. Most hardware sold in 2012 for instance would be perfectly capable of handling any task required today. Enthusiast gamers are most likely to upgrade regularly, but even then, a graphics card sold in 2011 or 2012 will be capable of powering through many games sold in 2013 without a problem.  Also, we feel that an ever growing audience are now building their own systems, after buying components online at a lower price than buying a ‘prebuilt'. Our Facebook page is crammed daily with ‘reader' systems, custom built at home.

More information available over here.

Kitguru says: While these reports often spell the doom of the PC industry we don't feel it is as bad as it sounds. People are naturally turning to a tablet or smartphone for general browsing on the move, and the home system doesn't always need an upgrade every year.

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