Despite returning to shipment growth, Dell continued to lose ground in the PC market in 2009's closing quarter, with all its rivals gaining market share.

Figures from iSuppli reveal 88.8 million PCs were shipped globally in Q4, a 14.4 per cent spike on 2008. HP took top spot, snaring 19.4 per cent of the market after seeing an 18.9 per cent year-on-year rise in shipments.

Acer grew shipments by 28.9 per cent and swapped places with Dell to take second spot. The two firms took 13.4 and 12.2 per cent of the market respectively.

Lenovo, in fourth place, was the quarter's big winner, with shipments up by a massive 43.1 per cent and market share rising 1.8 points to 8.9 per cent. Toshiba rounded out the top five. The Japanese vendor enjoyed annual shipment growth of 27 per cent and grabbed 5.3 per cent of the market.

All other vendors ceded 3.5 points of market share to the big five, with combined shipments rising by a relatively modest 5.4 per cent.

The full-year picture looked even worse for Dell, and it was the only top-five vendor to see shipments decline. The Texan firm's tally of 39 million units represented a decline of about a tenth on 2008. It hung on grimly to second spot with a 12.9 per cent slice of the market.

HP stretched out in front, extending its 2008 lead by 2.7 points to take an 18.9 per cent market share. Dell also had cause to look over its shoulder, with Acer just a fifth of a point behind it in third spot.

The Taiwanese firm boosted shipments by 21 per cent and grew market share by more than two points. Lenovo and Toshiba also increased market share, grabbing 8.2 and 5.1 per cent respectively. Both firms posted double-digit shipment hikes.

Total global PC shipments in 2009 rose one per cent to 302.3 million.

Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at iSuppli, claimed Acer's success was fuelled by notebooks, which represented almost four-fifths of the vendor's shipments last year.

"Acer owes its strong notebook success to the fact that it is covering the key bases well," he added. "(It has) a strong portfolio encompassing both regular laptops and netbooks."