PC shipments continue downward trend
Overall PC shipments are down again this quarter. HP still has the biggest market share, but Apple is the only vendor to see an increase over the last year.
Worldwide PC shipments are down 0.1 percent from last year, signaling the PC market's seventh consecutive quarter of little to no growth, according to analyst reports.
Though HP continued to be at the top of the heap, its global shipments declined by about 12 percent, according to reports from research firms Gartner and IDC. Worldwide shipments totaled 87.5 million units in the second quarter of 2012.
Among vendors, Apple was the only one to see a growth in shipments. Its 12 percent share of the market this year meant the company's shipments grew 4.3 percent, according to Gartner.
The slow sales may be a reflection of how consumers aren't taking to ultrabooks as manufacturers had hoped.
"Uncertainties in the economy in various regions, as well as consumers' low interest in PC purchases, were some of the key influencers of slow PC shipment growth," Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, said in a press release. "Despite the high expectations for the thin and light notebook segment, Ultrabooks, shipment volume was small and (had) little impact on overall shipment growth. Consumers are less interested in spending on PCs as there are other technology products and services, such as the latest smartphones and media tablets, that they are purchasing."
Consumers may also be averse to ultrabooks because of pricing and because they're waiting for improved operating systems, such as Windows 8, to be released, according to IDC.