PCs Show Double Digit Growth in Q2

In spite of weakness in the overall IT market, PC sales saw double-digit growth in the second quarter, according to recent research.

Gartner calculated year-over-year growth at 16 percent, showing that PCs continue to be in demand around the globe. Mobile PC sales grew at a faster rate than desktop PC sales.

PC shipments in the U.S. hit 16.5 million units in the second quarter, up 4.2 percent over the second quarter last year, according to Gartner. However, average selling prices are down on both desktop and notebook computers. The research firm speculates that the cut in prices helped spur sales.

Dell led the U.S. market with 31.9 percent of PC shipments in the second quarter; Hewlett Packard followed with 25.3 percent; Apple grew 38.1 percent year over year, coming in third with 8.5 percent of the U.S. market.

"Home mobile PCs continue to have momentum in the U.S. market. However, ASP declines were greater here than in other segments," said Mita Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner's Client Computing Markets group, in a statement. "The retail space was a harsh pricing environment during the quarter.

"U.S. professional units look to have been affected by tightening IT budgets as U.S. business responded to growing economic uncertainty," Kitagawa said. "Desk-based PCs gained traction among some professional users. Because desk-based PC deployment costs are still lower than that of mobile PCs, desk-based PCs provide a less expensive option for these buyers with tighter budgets."

Worldwide, Hewlett Packard led the pack with 18.1 percent of the market, followed by Dell with 15.6 percent, Acer with 9.4 percent and Lenovo with 7.8 percent. While only pulling in a 4.4 percent market share, Toshiba saw the greatest growth in the PC segment, growing 29.2 percent year over year. Dell was second with 21.9 percent growth, according to Gartner.

Although several vendors released mini-notebooks in the second quarter, they did not have a significant impact on sales, Gartner said.

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