Personal computer shipments in the Asia-Pacific region soared 37 percent to 27.1 million units in the first quarter, as the PC market continued to bounce back from last year’s global financial crisis, according to market watcher Gartner.
Personal computer shipments in the Asia-Pacific region soared 37 percent to 27.1 million units in the first quarter, as the PC market continued to bounce back from last year’s global financial crisis, according to market watcher Gartner.
The Asia-Pac figures outpaced growth in most other regions, and was well ahead of the global growth figure of 27 percent – itself an encouraging figure. Overall some 84.3 million PCs were shipped in the latest quarter, and all regions achieved double-digit growth.
In the USA, PC shipments totalled 17.4 million units, up 20 percent from a year earlier, This was in stark contrast to Q1 last year, when the worldwide PC market declined almost 7 percent, dragged down by recession in the US and many other nations. Only 67.2 million units were shipped globally in that three months.
Obituaries not needed
IDC noted similar trends. “For most of last year, people were writing obituaries for desktops and we saw that desktops did well, helped by all-in-one designs and touch-screen displays,” said analyst Jay Chou. He drew attention to Tuesday’s encouraging Q1 report from Intel, which said sales were booming, especially for high-end notebooks.
Hewlett-Packard remains the global market leader, accounting for almost a fifth of shipments. But its growth was dwarfed by Taiwan’s Acer which passed Dell to take the No. 2 spot last year. Hewlett-Packard’s shipments climbed 20 percent in Q1, while Acer’s rose 43 percent.
Lenovo’s PC shipments increased 59.2 percent, reflecting a push into the consumer segment. And Taiwanese maker Asus joined the worldwide Top Five ranking for the first time, sharing the fifth position with Toshiba.