Tablets, smartphones dent PC shipments in second quarter

11.07.2012
Tablets and smartphones continued to eat away at worldwide PC shipments, which remained flat during the second quarter, according to research released by Gartner on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Lenovo inched closer to taking the top spot in PC shipments from Hewlett-Packard, which barely held on to the title of world's largest PC maker. Lenovo has been growing through acquisitions and aggressive pricing, Gartner said.

Worldwide PC shipments for all vendors totaled 87.5 million units, a decline of 0.1 percent compared to the same quarter last year, Gartner said.

Consumers are spending less on PCs and more on smartphones and tablets, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement. The trend is more pronounced in developed countries where the PC market is highly saturated, he said.

Research firm IDC on Wednesday also reported a year-over-year decline of 0.1 percent in worldwide PC shipments, a turnaround from its forecast in May of 2.1 percent growth.

A slowing economy in China also hurt PC shipments, the research firms said.