6 Ways HP And Dell Managed To Grow Share During A Brutal Q2 PC Market

The Shipping News

The second quarter was another bruising period for the PC market as global shipments sunk to their lowest level in a decade and the U.S. market took a nearly 6 percent nosedive, according to research firm Gartner. The declines are the result of increased prices driven by shortages in memory, SSD and display components, Gartner said. But while major vendors like Lenovo and Apple saw shipments stagnate or decline, HP Inc. managed to consolidate share, boosting shipments in the U.S. and globally. Dell, too, registered shipment growth in the U.S. and global markets. HP's global shipment increase was enough to boot Lenovo from the worldwide top spot in the second quarter, and its 6.5 percent increase in U.S. shipments were enough to keep it ahead of Dell in the race to dominate that large and important market.

Click through to see six key facts about the PC market in the second quarter.

Growing Share In A Shrinking Market

The U.S. market accounts for about 20 percent of the PC market overall, and HP and Dell were the only two PC vendors to gain U.S. market share during the quarter. Together, the two top vendors control nearly 60 percent of the U.S. market, HP with a 30.5 percent share and Dell with 27.7 percent. Lenovo finished No. 3 in the U.S. PC market battle with shipments that tumbled more than 16 percent and a 13.2 percent share. In the U.S., top vendors shipped a total of 14 million units, down from 14.85 million units in the same period a year ago, Gartner said.

HP, Dell Pull Away

HP's U.S. PC shipments rose 6.5 percent year over year while Dell finished in the No. 2 spot for the quarter with an increase of about 2 percent, according to Gartner. The Gartner data also shows HP outpacing premium PC maker Apple, which saw U.S. shipments fall nearly 10 percent year over year in the second quarter.

Lenovo's U.S. Shipments Fall

HP's U.S. shipments for the quarter ended June 30 were 4.27 million, up from 4 million a year prior, according to Gartner. Dell's U.S. shipments for the period were 3.87 million, up from 3.8 million a year earlier, Gartner said. Lenovo shipped 1.84 million PCs in the U.S. during the quarter, down from 2.20 million in the year-ago period, according to Gartner. Apple's U.S. shipments were 1.64 million for the quarter, down from 1.82 million in the same period a year ago, Gartner said.

HP Takes The Lead In Global PC Market

HP also registered the biggest gains in the worldwide PC market during the second quarter, shipping 12.69 million units and knocking Lenovo off its perch atop the global market. HP's total represented 3.3 percent year-over-year growth and gave the vendor 20.8 percent global market share. Dell was the only other major PC vendor to notch global growth in the second quarter, shipping 9.55 million units, a 1.4 percent year-over-year increase, and finishing the quarter with 15.6 percent market share.

Global Shipments Tumble For Lenovo

Lenovo's fall from the global top spot in PC shipments was the result of an 8.4 percent decline in shipments to 12.18 million units. The China-based manufacturer finished the quarter with 19.9 percent global market share. Apple's global shipment total was essentially flat year over year, at 4.23 million units.

Global Downturn

Overall, top vendors shipped 61.1 million PCs globally in the second quarter. That's down from 63.87 units in the same period a year ago, and represents the lowest quarterly volume since 2007, according to Gartner. Shipments have fallen for 11 consecutive quarters, Gartner said.