Global PC shipments remain strong in Q1

Despite tough overall economic conditions, the market for personal computers remained strong in the first quarter of 2008 according to iSuppli. Global PC unit shipments rose to 69.9 million units in the first quarter, up 12.1 percent from 62.4 million in the first quarter of 2007. Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Acer Inc. retained the top-three rankings with no change from the previous quarter. HP boosted first-quarter global PC shipments by 23 percent over the same quarter in 2007, to reach 13.2 million units. Dell in the first quarter of 2008 expanded its market share position by half a percentage point compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, at 15.4 percent, with worldwide shipments of 10.8 million units.

Acer rounded out the Top-3 rankings with unit shipments of 6.8 million units—a figure that includes the shipments of the recently-acquired Gateway and Packard Bell—giving it a global market share of 9.7 percent.

iSuppli analysts say that Overall, the first quarter performance of the PC market was slightly better than expected. "iSuppli continues to see a higher value proposition in notebook PCs relative to desktops, and the growth in this segment bears witness to this," Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research said. "We now forecast global PC unit shipment growth in the range of 10 to 11 percent this year."

Filed under: computers
Other story tags: Dell, HP, Acer, market, market share, iSuppli