Dell, HP neck and neck in second quarter U.S. PC shipment race; Apple slips, Acer surges

Dell's second quarter U.S. market share tumbled 19 percent from a year ago to 26.3 percent, but that was good enough to regain No. 1 in the U.S. over HP, according to IDC. Meanwhile, Acer and Toshiba's market share improved in the second quarter as Apple's slipped to 7.6 percent, down 12.4 percent from a year ago.

Overall, PC shipments fell 3.1 percent in the second quarter, but that's better than the 6.3 percent decline IDC expected. Gartner's tally has PC units falling 5 percent, an improvement from the 9.8 percent expected decline. The difference? IDC excludes x86 servers and Gartner counts them. Gartner also had Apple gaining market share, but it's unlikely that x86 servers are boosting the company's share.

Here are the big takeaways from the PC market share stats from IDC and Gartner:

• Acer is surging due to netbooks and mini notebook PCs;
• HP continues to surge courtesy of success in the consumer portable market and aggressive pricing;
• Dell is trying to protect share and profit margins but that's not a news flash given its second quarter woes and business restructuring;
• Toshiba is on the move courtesy of mini notebooks.
• Gartner noted that inventory restocking drove the second quarter. Intel also indicated that on its second quarter earnings conference call.

Here's a look at the U.S. standings (via IDC):

And the worldwide PC market share standings, which also indicate that Dell's standing fell.

And the Gartner standings for the U.S.:

And worldwide:

Update: Dell contacted me to note that it had regained the No. 1 spot in the U.S. by a slim margin. Corrected above.