According to a post on AFP, Gartner’s survey showed Lenovo taking a 16.7 per cent global market share with shipments of 12.67 million units. The survey by Gartner found China’s Lenovo edging past Hewlett-Packard as the world’s largest vendor, reclaiming the top spot it had captured briefly last year.

Worldwide sales of personal computers dropped for a fifth consecutive quarter in the April-June period, the longest decline in the PC market’s history, a research firm said Wednesday.

The preliminary figures showed a worldwide drop of 10.9 per cent in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, with PC shipments falling to 76 million units.

“We are seeing the PC market reduction directly tied to the shrinking installed base of PCs, as inexpensive tablets displace the low-end machines used primarily for consumption in mature and developed markets,” said Mikako Kitagawa, analyst at Gartner.

“In emerging markets, inexpensive tablets have become the first computing device for many people, who, at best, are deferring the purchase of a PC. This is also accounting for the collapse of the mini notebook market.”

Gartner’s survey showed that Lenovo leads the PC market with 16.7% share of the global market with 12.67 million units shipped, ahead of HP’s 12.4 million and 16.3% share. Dell is third with sales of 8.9 million and a market share of 11.8%. Ranked number 4 is Acer which experienced a drop of 35% and 5th ranking is ASUS which sees a drop of 20.5%.

It looks like the tablets and larger screen smartphones are slowly eroding the PC market. The PC market is now left with niche crowds of gamers and overclockers in the DIY space and the rest is probably installed in offices.

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