APAC PC shipment continued to head south with 28.1 million units in Q3, an 11.2 percent decline from Q3 of 2012, according to Gartner. Factors contributing to the drop were currency volatilities, especially in India and Indonesia, where currencies plunged to record lows. Vendors were careful in managing inventory, bearing in mind Windows 8.1 and new models based on Intel’s Bay Trail that will start shipping the following quarter.
Globally, PC shipment totaled 80.3 million units in Q3, an 8.6 percent decline from the same period last year. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of declining worldwide shipments.
“The third quarter is often referred to as the ‘back-to-school’ quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst of Gartner. “Consumers’ shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets. A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets.”
HP and Lenovo have been virtually neck and neck for the top global position in the PC market. Lenovo took the lead, as it did last quarter, but the upcoming holiday sales season will be a key battlefield for both companies. Lenovo accounted for 17.6 percent of global PC shipments in the third quarter, and HP had 17.1 percent of shipments.
Weakness in the Chinese market continued to affect Lenovo’s overall growth. However, strong growth in the Americas, as well as EMEA, offset the declining PC shipments for Lenovo in APAC. HP recorded positive shipment growth in Q3 for the first time since Q1 of 2012. With the exception of Latin America, HP’s growth exceeded the average growth across all regions.
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