HP regains PC crown as tablet growth begins to plateau

HP bests Apple in the vendor stakes in Q1 as tablets account for 19 per cent of total PC market, down from 22 per cent last quarter

The rampant growth of the tablet market showed signs of levelling out in 2012's opening quarter, allowing HP to regain its crown as the world's leading client computing firm.

According to figures from Canalys, Apple shipped 11.8 million iPads in Q1, down from the 15 million the vendor recorded the preceding quarter. Mac shipments took the firm's total number of units shifted to 15.8 million, but it still slipped to second spot in the global rankings, just 40,000 behind HP.

According to the market watcher, third-placed Lenovo posted 50 per cent annual growth in Q1, but Acer and Dell, in fourth and fifth respectively, endured shipment declines.

The tablet market is thrice the size it was during the corresponding period last year, and the tactile devices accounted for 19 per cent of the total client PC market in Q1. During the past 12 months this has risen from just seven per cent, but is down from the 22 per cent slice of the market tablets held during Q4 2011.

During 2012's opening three months notebooks and desktops enjoyed shipment growth of 11 and eight per cent respectively.

North America, where tablets comprise 40 per cent of total shipments, was the PC market's key growth engine in Q1, with the region posting a rise of 31 per cent. Growth in both the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions was pegged at 19 per cent, while Latin America posted a 10 per cent market expansion.

Canalys sounded a note of caution for the next quarter, claiming that the consumer market remains soft. Q2 will see the channel flush out existing inventory, predicted the analyst, while the market may have to wait for the launch of Windows 8 in Q4 to provide growth momentum.

"Most of the leading PC vendors have done a reasonable job of offsetting the declines in their netbook shipments over the past year with increased [tablet] business," said Canalys research analyst Tom Evans.

"Samsung and Lenovo are two that stand out in terms of substantially increasing overall volume, though Asus has performed well too. The challenge is breaking out into the really big volumes to challenge the leaders, Apple and Amazon. So far, only Samsung has shown it can routinely ship more than a million [tablets] a quarter."