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Worldwide PC shipments totaled 75.6 million units in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13), down -11.4% compared to the same quarter in 2012 but slightly better than expected, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.
Lenovo (the Chinese company that bought IBM's PC division) regained the lead in the shrinking market - although IDC noted it suffered a double-digit decline toward the end of the quarter due to an economic slowdown on its home turf.
The numbers reflect a market that is still struggling with the transition to touch-based systems running Windows 8 as well as justifying ultrabook prices in the face of economic pressures and competition from tablets and other devices, IDC says (and certainly, the tablet market continues to boom. IDC recently recorded first-quarter shipments of 130,000 tablets locally, four times as many as the same quarter last year).
Some pundits pick that the free Windows 8.1 - which will restore the Start button as well as other feature upgrades - will help revive the PC market's fortunes.
For others, it's more a matter of "What is a PC these days" as tablets with attachable keyboards do battle with laptops with detachable touchscreens.
NBR staff
Thu, 11 Jul 2013
Thu, 11 Jul 2013
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PC market less bad than expect but still pretty ouch; Lenovo king of the heap
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