Global PC shipments climbed in the second quarter, as vendors patched supply-chain issues and consumer demand for laptops surged with more people forced to work from home.
PC makers shipped 2.8 percent more devices in the second quarter compared with the same period the previous year, 64.8 million units, according to preliminary data released on Thursday by researcher Gartner Inc.
Rival industry analyst International Data Corp (IDC) pegged the year-on-year increase at 11 percent.
Both firms said that the increase was fueled by particularly strong growth in Europe and the US.
Major PC makers endured supply-chain breakdowns during the first quarter, when the COVID-19 pandemic ground some manufacturing to a halt in the Asia-Pacific region, which produces key computer components.
Vendors had little stock for some products, while also facing stronger demand as billions of people around the world fled their offices to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.
PC REVIVAL
“The strong demand driven by work-from-home as well as e-learning needs has surpassed previous expectations and has once again put the PC at the center of consumers’ tech portfolio,” IDC research manager Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement.
HP Inc and China’s Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) each held about a 25 percent share of the global market.
Gartner put Lenovo slightly ahead, while IDC had Palo Alto, California-based HP as No. 1 for the quarter.
Dell Technologies Inc and Apple Inc rounded out the top four on both lists.
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