Regional PC shipments slide in second quarter

Personal computer shipments in the Asia-Pacific region declined 0.5 percent year-on-year to just over 40 million units in the second quarter of this year, after the region was affected by slow shipments in China, according to a report issued by research firm Canalys.

China accounted for almost 45 percent of Asia-Pacific shipments, down about 6 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the report said. Canalys includes desktops, notebooks and tablets in the PC category.

Overall, the global PC market saw a quarter with no growth, after a 42.9 percent increase in tablet shipments was offset by declines in desktop and notebook shipments, which fell 7.4 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively.

Apple Inc still leads the global PC market but has lost ground to Lenovo Group Ltd. The California-based company topped the list by shipping 18.6 million PCs during the period, but its shares fell more than 2 percentage points to 17.1 percent because of lower iPad shipments.

Desktop and notebook shipments accounted for only about 20 percent of Apple's total PC shipments, Canalys said.

Second-placed Lenovo had a strong quarter, gaining share in its core notebook and desktop categories, as well as tablets. Lenovo's share rose to 12.9 percent from 12.1 percent in the same period last year.

Lenovo's good performance in the second quarter was helped by strong annual growth in various regions except for its domestic market. Its PC shipments almost doubled in Latin America and achieved 34 percent growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company also shipped about 1.5 million tablets during the period, Canalys said.

"Lenovo is on an upward curve with its tablets, expanding in the Chinese mainland and Latin America, where there is little competition from the likes of Google or Amazon," said James Wang, an analyst with Canalys.

A Bloomberg report said on Wednesday that Lenovo plans to open seven more flagship stores in China by 2016 to accelerate its push into smartphones and tablets. Chen Xudong, president of China operations for the ThinkPad maker, said the retail outlets would be company-owned and are planned for Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

"As we expand our business into smartphones, tablets and smart TVs, that requires a lot of storefront to show the products," Chen said in an interview with Bloomberg. "It's not just a point of sales, it's a place for people to experience the products."

In addition to the company-owned outlets, the number of partner-owned shops exclusively selling all Lenovo products will expand to 300 in the next three years from about 100 now, the Bloomberg report added.

Hewlett-Packard Co was listed as the third-biggest PC vendor in the quarter, with shipments of 12.7 million units worldwide.