The struggling worldwide PC market failed to mount a turnaround during the second quarter of 2013, instead recording another period of flat growth, according to the latest figures from analyst house Canalys.
Canalys, which includes traditional desktop PC, laptop and tablet shipments in its figures, found that a 42.9% increase in tablets was offset by declines in desktop and notebooks, which slid 7.4% and 13.9% respectively.
The company reckons that tablets are poised to completely outsell notebooks by the fourth quarter, a period that typically sees a rise in PC sales.
PC shipments in the EMEA region fell 3% year-on-year during the quarter after two successive quarters of double-digit growth, with shipments sliding 10% in Western Europe alone.
Market leader
While Apple was the top PC vendor in the quarter, the company's market share fell from 19.4% in the same quarter last year to 17.4% this year.
This was down to competitively priced Android tablets like the Google Nexus 7 and a decrease in iPad shipments, Canalys says, as desktops and notebooks only account for around a fifth of the Cupertino company's total PC shipments.
Second placed Lenovo saw market share grow 7.3% during the quarter, helped by 34% growth in shipments in the EMEA region and growing interest in its smartphones and tablets worldwide.
HP leapfrogged Samsung to snag third place, which Canalys says was helped by a change in tablet strategy and the launch of its first Android tablet, the Slate 7. Dell's market share fell 6% year-on-year to see it remain fifth out of the top five PC vendors.
Both iOS and Android saw gains during the quarter, with Android's share of the total PC market increasing to 17% during the second quarter 2013 from 6% a year ago.
