According to the latest figures published by analyst firm Canalys, HP retook the lead in the worldwide client PC market in Q1 2012. Apple had ousted the long-time PC market leader in Q4 2011 although in Q1, Apple shipped 11.8 million iPads, bringing its total client PC number for the quarter to 15.8 million. HP’s shipments were up by around 40,000 units. Lenovo took third place, with impressive year-on-year growth of 50%. Acer and Dell took the remaining top-five places, but with shipments down on the same quarter a year ago. The total client PC market grew by 21% to 107 million units.
On global scale, Canalys reports that pads represented 19% of all client PC shipments in Q1, up substantially from 7% a year ago, but down on the 22% recorded in Q4 2011. Netbooks have fallen to 5% from a high of 13% two years ago. Notebooks represented just under half of the overall market by units. Looking at overall client PC shipments by region, Canalys estimates that North America grew 31% year-on-year, compared to 19% for both EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia-Pacific. Latin American growth lagged at only 10%.
