Shipments for the quarter totaled 61.1 million units, up from 54.7 million in the same period a year ago, Gartner said in releasing preliminary numbers. The second-quarter results beat Gartner's year-to-year projection of 10.6% growth. "The PC market experienced a boost from better than expected sales in the United States, Asia/Pacific, and Latin America," Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.
Strong consumer demand drove PC sales worldwide, Gartner said, while Windows Vista, released in January by Microsoft, continued to have a minimal impact. HP remained the top vendor, accounting for 18.2% of shipments. The company beat the global growth rate for the ninth quarter in a row, increasing shipments by 36.6% over a year ago. HP showed steady increases across all regions.
No. 2 Dell, on the other hand, continued to struggle, shipping 5.5% fewer PCs than a year ago. The computer maker accounted for 15% of the world market. "Dell had difficulties in its consumer business," Kitagawa said. "Dell made its first major retail shipments to Wal-Mart stores; however, volumes were not significant enough to influence its growth performance in the quarter."
Acer recorded the biggest increase in shipments among the five top vendors, selling 54.2% more PCs year to year. Nevertheless, the increase failed to keep it in third place. Lenovo pushed Acer to fourth by raising shipments by 22.1% to capture an 8% market share. Acer, which had taken the No. 3 spot from Lenovo last quarter, accounted for 7.2% of global shipments.
Toshiba was fifth in the market, increasing shipments by 23.7% to take a 3.9% share.