Tablets set to outsell PCs by the end of the year
August 7, 2013 03:31 pm
The number of laptops sent from producer to retailer fell
by 13.9 per cent worldwide over the period, while volumes of desktop computers
shipped dropped by 7.4 per cent, according to estimates by Canalys analyst
firm.
Year-on-year, PC shipments to European, Middle Eastern
and African markets showed a decline of three per cent. Western Europe in
particular proved challenging for vendors, with a decrease of 10 per cent over
the year.
Volumes to the Asia Pacific region declined 0.5%
year-on-year to just over 40 million units, with figures for the region
affected by a six per cent fall in shipments to China, which accounted for
almost 45 per cent of the Asian market.
Apple remained the top PC vendor for the
quarter, with a 17.1 per cent market share with over 18.5 million units. This
is a 4.5 million unit lead over Lenovo, its closest competitor in the market,
but still a dip from the 19 per cent market share the Californian company
enjoyed in the second quarter of 2012.
Lenovo, the Chinese multinational, gained market share in
notebook and desktop PC shipments over the quarter. It also bucked trends by
reporting strong annual growth in EMEA (34 per cent), the US (28 per cent) and
especially Latin America (93 per cent) and performed well on the tablet side of
its business, where it shipped an estimated 1.5 million units.
“It is striking how successful it has been in globalising
its PC business and breaking the one million unit barrier is an important
milestone for its tablet shipments,” said James Wang, an analyst with Canalys.
“Lenovo is on an upward curve with its tablets, expanding
in mainland China and Latin America, where there is little competition from the
likes of Google or Amazon. (TheTelegraph)
