HP was the top global PC vendor for the fourth quarter of 2012, while worldwide PC sales dropped by 6.4 percent when compared to the same quarter in 2011.
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker revealed that 2012's fourth-quarter global PC shipments was 89.8 million units. HP shipped 15 million PCs during the quarter, resulting in a market share of 16.7 percent.
Lenovo followed in second place with 14.1 million shipments, translating into a market share of 15.7 percent. Dell settled for third place with 9.4 million shipments and a 10.6 percent market share, with Acer following with 6.9 million shipments and Asus with 6.4 million.
The aforementioned decrease in PC sales is worse than IDC's forecast of 4.4 percent. It also marked the first time the industry experienced a year-on-year decline during the holiday season. Ultimately, PC shipments in 2012 were down by 3.2 percent.
"Although Q3 was focused on the clearing of Windows 7 inventory, preliminary research indicates the clearance did not help significantly the uptake of Windows 8 systems." said IDC analyst Jay Chou. "The PC ecosystem has thus far not adequately conveyed a fuller spectrum of the benefits of the latest Wintel platform. Lost in the shuffle to promote a touch-centric PC, vendors have not forcefully stressed other features that promote a more secure, reliable, and efficient user experience."
"As Windows 8 matures, and other corresponding variables such as Ultrabook pricing continue to drop, hopefully the PC market can see a reset in both messaging and demand in 2013."
