PC sales drop, Ultrabooks fail to revive the market

According to the latest figures PC sales have dropped 0.1% worldwide for the second quarter of 2012 in comparison to the second quarter of 2011. The total number of computer systems sold for Q2 of 2012 was 87.5 million units according to Gartner research.

Familiar names still top the charts in terms of PC sales figures. In first Hewlett Packard scored 14.9% of the market share with Lenovo breathing down HP’s neck with 14.7%. Acer came in third spot with 11% of the market. Importantly, the gap between Lenovo and HP has closed significantly with HP losing 2% market share and Lenovo gaining 2% market share. Acer also gained some market share, rising 0.4% while Dell took a hit, sinking 1.4%. ASUS made a 2% gain as well.

The big talking point of the report is that Intel’s Ultrabooks simply failed to deliver. Gartner said consumer interest wasn’t revived at all by the introduction of the Ultrabook concept and demand still remains sluggish, Ultrabooks had little impact on overall shipment growth.

Consumers have reportedly been significantly more interested in getting hold of tablets and smartphones. It is also thought that the impending launch of Windows 8 has also forced many consumers to hold out on buying new PCs to avoid having to spend additional money to upgrade to the latest OS.

In America there was a 5.7% overall reduction in PC sales compared to last years figures, Apple are the only company who managed growth by rising from 10.8% to 12% market share with 4.8% more sales.

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