Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 8 Percent In Third Quarter Of 2012 As The Market Prepares For The Launch Of Windows 8

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 87.5 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a decline of 8.3 percent compared with the third quarter of 2011, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.

"A continuing slowdown in consumer PC shipments played a big part in the overall PC market decline," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The third quarter was also a transitional quarter before Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system release, so shipments were less vigorous as vendors and their channel partners liquidated inventory.

"Retailers were conservative in placing orders as they responded to weak back-to-school sales. By the end of September, retailers were focused on clearing out inventory in advance of the Windows 8 launch later this month," Ms. Kitagawa said. "On the professional side, there was minimum impact from Windows 8 in the quarter because the professional market will not adopt Windows 8 PCs immediately after the release."

Lenovo took the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments for the first time in the company's history, as its share increased to 15.7 percent, while HP's global PC share was at 15.5 percent (see Table 1). In addition to acquiring other vendors, Lenovo has also taken an aggressive position on pricing, especially in the professional market. As a result, Lenovo has achieved significant market share gains over the last two years, exceeding regional average growth rates across all regions.

Table 1 Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q12 (Units)

Company										3Q12 Shipments								3Q12 Market Share (%)								3Q11 Shipments								3Q11 Market Share (%)								3Q12-3Q11 Growth (%)
Lenovo										13,767,976								15.7								12,536,756								13.1								9.8
HP										13,550,761								15.5								16,217,987								17.0								-16.4
Dell										9,216,638								10.5								10,676,513								11.2								-13.7
Acer Group										8,633,267								9.9								9,616,572								10.1								-10.2
ASUS										6,380,690								7.3								5,708,807								6.0								11.8
Others										35,954,748								41.1								40,683,666								42.6								-11.6
Total										87,504,080								100.0								95,440,301								100.0								-8.3

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad.Source: Gartner (October 2012)

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