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Canalys: HP retakes lead over Apple in global client PC race

Summary: Although the iPad 2 gave Apple a boost last quarter, Hewlett-Packard made a mini-comeback in the global PC shipment race.

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

Hewlett-Packard is making a quick comeback in the global client PC market share race.

After just one quarter, the Silicon Valley giant has retaken the lead just a few months after it slipped behind Apple at the end of 2011, according to the latest report from analyst house Canalys.

HP's lead in Q1 2012 was a close one, out-shipping Apple by roughly only 40,000 units.

Apple skirted past HP in Q4 mainly thanks to iPad sales. However, if you paid attention to Apple's recent quarterly earnings announcements, you'll remember that iPad numbers didn't meet expectations. Apple shipped approximately 11.8 million iPads last quarter, bringing its total client PC number for the quarter to 15.8 million.

But given the close gap between Apple and HP as well as Canalys analyst predictions that tablet are exhibiting the most growth at a rate of more than 200 percent year-over-year, it could be anyone's crown for the taking next quarter.

Nevertheless, Canalys analysts also added in the report that tablet sales are a bit lopsided, with more of them stemming from the United States than elsewhere.

Canalys research analyst Tom Evans explained further in the report:

Most of the leading PC vendors have done a reasonable job of offsetting the declines in their netbook shipments over the past year with increased pad business. Samsung and Lenovo are two that stand out in terms of substantially increasing overall volume, though Asus has performed well too. The challenge is breaking out into the really big volumes to challenge the leaders – Apple and Amazon. So far, only Samsung has shown it can routinely ship more than a million pads a quarter.

Lenovo, Acer, and Dell rounded out the top five.

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Topics: Security, Cisco, Hardware, Hewlett-Packard, Networking

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17 comments
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  • Kind of Misleading to Throw iPads in There Anyway

    If you told the average person that Apple was leading in "PC" sales, they wouldn't expect you to be including tablets. Tablets are a bit different type of client than desktops and laptops (which can reasonably be included together) at least at this point. That may change in the future, but at the moment they're still pretty different in the software they run.
    CFWhitman
    Reply Vote

    • Yet tablet is a personal computer device, so even now they are right to ...

      ... include. As Jobs said, in few years tablets will be like cars, and usual PCs like trucks. And on later time people will know personal computer primarily as tablet.

      By the way, Appe reported that iPad 2 production was seriously constrained in Q1, so normally Apple would remain as top PC vendor. Q2 will be usual with Apple leading.
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

      • Look - pick a definition already...

        Jobs said tablets were 'POST-PC' and that we were in a Post PC world. Either we are or we aren't. If iPads are PCs then we're not in a Post PC world so let's stop THAT rhetoric now and compare functionality on the basis of what PCs can do.

        If we ARE Post PC, then stop lumping PCs in with tablets (or visa versa).

        But changing definitions to 'anything that makes Apple look better' is duplicious and isn't really proving anything. While we're at it - let's lump all phones in with smartphones (after all - they ALL make phone calls) or lump all smartphones in with PCS (since an iPhone is basically the same as an iPad and an iPad is a PC.. right?)

        When you broaden a definition so widely that it includes *anything*, the word becomes useless....

        Or very self-serving.
        TheWerewolf
        Reply Vote

      • Jobs never said that we live in post-PC world

        @TheWerewolf: on the contrary, he said that classic PC will not go away, they will just become more rare specialized devices, similar to trucks versus cars.
        DDERSSS
        Reply Vote

      • re: Look - pick a definition already...

        @TheWerewol : Jobs was a bit of a hypocrit [and Cook continues]. He preached a post PC world but continues to sell Macs.
        I don't consider something like an iPad to be a PC for the simple reasons that you can't do as much that you can do on a PC. Heavy duty games [i.e. Call of Duty, NBA 2012, ...] Nope. Video editing [yes but not as easy]. Development/programming. Not really. network management [yes, but to a point]. Regular business applications [excluding VPN, remote desktop, etc.] such as accounting, CRM, etc. No really.
        Gisabun
        Reply Vote

    • Counting Post PC Tablets As PCs

      Apple supporters like to move around the definition of tablets. They'll call tablets Post PC devices when it suits them, and PCs other times when it suits them. When PC vendors start shipping Windows 8 tablets / hybrid devices, it is very likely that most everyone will call tablets, PCs. My prediction is that Windows 8 tablets / hybrid devices will quickly overshadow the iPad and the rest of the tablet market. We'll essentially see a repetition of DOS PCs superseding Apple II PCs, and Windows PCs superseding Macs.
      P. Douglas
      Reply Vote

      • Doubtful

        People are already rejecting the Fugly Windows Phone 7 so why would they want that same nasty experience on a Tablet?

        Why would a company that has invested in iPads and the associated technologies scrap that for more of the same crap from Microsoft?
        itguy10
        Reply Vote

      • I'll leave the definitions and marketshare calculations to everyone else...

        All I know is that at home, probably about 75% of what I did on my home PCs and laptops 6 months ago is done on my iPad now. Not a full replacement, but it's getting pretty close and I would expect as the next few years go by, my tablet to computer ratio will flip. Currently many computers to 1 iPad, but I can see having 2-3 iPads and only one PC for the occasional "heavy lifting." But who knows, maybe with the desktop and mobile OS convergence that seems to be the trend and continued hardware improvements, PCs may not even be necessary for that heavy lifting in a few years.
        piousmonk
        Reply Vote

  • HP is having problems with printing sales

    Hewlett Packard must be having serious problems with Snapfish. They are so threatened by our company PhotoWorksTemecula.com that they have blocked our small photo printing company from using own company name with google ads .
    photoworks
    Reply Vote

    • errrr....

      Do we care about your company getting blocked by HP? Nope.
      I don't think HP cares about a rinky dinky company either. Small fish.
      Gisabun
      Reply Vote

  • Later this year is when we'll see some fireworks...

    When Windows 8 releases, PC sales will crash accompanies by an immediate spike in Mac sales. Then we'll see a slowdown of Mac sales as tablet sales ramp up strongly.

    http://www.tech-thoughts.net/
    sameer_singh17
    Reply Vote

    • Riiight...

      Because Vista completely gutted the sales of.. oh.. Windows XP? And Mac sales spiked then.

      In reality - if Win8 is a failure - and it could easily be - then people will go on using Win 7 until Win 9 comes out. And Macs will remain around 7% of the world market.

      I hope the 'Tech Thoughts' at the site you're flogging are a bit more insightful than the sample you give here...
      TheWerewolf
      Reply Vote

  • So, while pundits continue to obsess over market share

    Apple will continue to rake in the money.
    baggins_z
    Reply Vote

    • Eventually, people will tire with the iSomeThingOrOther,

      and Apple will be right back where it was 10 years ago, with no products other than what will be left from their iAdventure days.

      Look, Apple has 3 products: iPhone, iPads, and "iMacs" (or some Mac OS PCs), and, a company with just 3 products, is not a company with a long-term survival strategy. They need to expand and diversify, and the iGadgets will become stale some time soon, even if they add a tiny improvement here and there in times to come.
      adornoe
      Reply Vote

    • ya right

      Nice thought fanboi. Yes. They'll continue to rake in the money from their Apple tax. You own shares in the company?
      Gisabun
      Reply Vote

  • Errr.....

    Why is it just one "research" company lumps tablets in. You wonder.
    Gisabun
    Reply Vote

    • The answer is simple: to make Apple sound more significant than it is.

      Otherwise, without iPads and iPhones, Apple would not even be considered any kind of powerhouse in the computing community.

      If money is all it takes to make a company "significant", then Apple is number one. But, if technology is more significant, then Apple would rank far down the list with it's iGadgets, which is basically what they are.
      adornoe
      Reply Vote
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