Eastern promise for UK PC market in Q1

The humble desktop fuels a return to growth as Asian duo Lenovo and Toshiba posts stellar numbers

Lenovo and Toshiba were the big winners as strong desktop sales helped the UK PC market return to growth in 2012's opening quarter.

But market watcher Gartner has cautioned that the uptick in shipments could be attributable to a purge of aging or excess inventory.

Total Q1 UK PC shipments rose 2.4 per cent annually to three million. The desktop segment posted 7.2 per cent growth, while the notebook market decreased 0.3 per cent.

HP retains its position as the top vendor, after growing shipments 1.6 per cent to 644,000, giving the firm a market share of 21.4 per cent. The analyst pointed out that the market leader had succeeded with "well-priced products".

Second-placed Dell lost ground, having shipped 396,000 units in Q1, a 7.7 per cent drop on the corresponding period last year. Consequently, the Texan outfit's slice of the market has fallen 1.5 points to 13.1 per cent.

Acer's year of woe in 2011 continues to put a dent in its numbers, with Q1 UK shipments plummeting 35 per cent to 293,000 and market share down more than five points to 9.7 per cent.

Toshiba and Lenovo, who rounded out the top five, were the quarter's star performers. The Japanese player punted 259,000 PCs in Q1, up 26.7 per cent on last year. Its market share stood at 8.6 per cent.

Its Chinese rival saw its first-quarter shipments increase a whopping 59.5 per cent to 236,000, while market share has grown almost three points in the past year to 7.8 per cent.

Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal claimed that, after a 2011 in which shipments contracted 16 per cent, the UK PC market had demonstrated a degree of stability in 2012's opening three months. He saluted the fact that the professional market expanded 3.2 per cent in Q1.

"But it remains to be seen if this is a sign of real demand or just inventory refreshment," he added. "PC vendors are all waiting for ultrabooks and Windows 8-based PCs to enter the market, and the way they can differentiate themselves from their competitors will again come down to price, unless there is innovation in form factors."

Across western Europe as a whole, the PC market fared less well in Q1, with total shipments dropping 3.1 per cent to 15.5 million. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the economically unstable southern European countries performed worst, with Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal being particularly badly affected.