shipments

Smartphone shipments are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 24.9 percent over the next five years, according to research firm Ovum.

With that kind of growth, the firm expects total smartphone shipments to hit 1.7 billion units by 2017, easily outpacing the 488 million devices that hit store shelves in 2011. And as more devices ship worldwide over the coming years, expect Android to reign supreme.

"Android will dominate the smartphone market over the next five years," Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum, said today in a statement. "While Apple has … Read more

The tablet market showed some weakness during the first quarter, but Apple's iPad remained strong, according to new research from IDC.

During the first quarter of 2012, total worldwide tablet shipments hit 17.4 million, 1.2 million units less than the research firm had anticipated. And although that figure is down 38.4 percent compared to the busy holiday shopping season, it was up 120 percent over the 7.9 million tablets that shipped during the first quarter of 2011.

The main issue last quarter was weaker-than-expected performance of Android-based tablets. IDC did not provide exact Android tablet … Read more

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 the first quarter of 2012 was a close one, outshipping Apple by roughly only 40,000 units.

Apple skirted past HP in the fourth quarter, mainly thanks to iPad sales. However, if you paid attention to Apple's recent quarterly earnings announcements, you'll remember that iPad … Read more

Despite a weak economy and constraints in hard-disk supplies, PC shipments scored a gain of 2.3 percent last quarter compared with a year ago, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

Though nothing to brag about, the results surpassed the firm's February forecast of a drop of almost 1 percent.

IDC had anticipated a down quarter due to the sluggish economy, competition from mobile devices, and uncertainty about the impact of Windows 8.

The limited supply of hard-disk drives had some bearing on the industry but not as much as anticipated. Supplies have been constrained since last … Read more

PC shipments in the first quarter didn't scorch any growth charts, but they did avoid a predicted decline.

According to Gartner data, PC shipments in the first quarter checked in at 89 million units, up 1.9 percent from a year ago. Gartner has projected a 1.2 percent decline. IDC data shows PC unit growth of 2.3 percent in the first quarter.

In other words, the PC patient has a pulse despite a tablet onslaught.

However, there are plenty of things to worry the PC industry. For starters, India and China growth wasn't that great. Europe … Read more

The PC market is likely to see another sluggish year but is poised for a rebound in 2013.

Global PC shipments will hit 368 million in 2012, Gartner forecast today, just a 4.4 percent gain from last year. Though not a huge bump, this year will at least show an improvement over 2011 when shipments totaled 352.8 million units, just a half a percentage point gain over 2010.

PC vendors have faced a difficult climate with a lethargic economy, supply constraints, and especially competition from smartphones and tablets.

"The use of applications such as e-mail, social networking, … Read more

The next-generation Intel chip destined to populate the upcoming crop of ultrabooks is delayed, an Asia-based report claims.

The delay of the "Ivy Bridge" processor is being reported by DigiTimes, a publication that typically voices the concerns of device makers. Those concerns are just as often opinion as they are fact.

That said, the key point is that volume shipments of Ivy Bridge won't happen until "after June," Digitimes said, citing sources at "first-tier notebook vendors [that] are having trouble digesting their Sandy Bridge notebook inventories due to the weak global economy."

A &… Read more

Ultrabooks will be a key ingredient in PC vendors' strategies this year. And new research from Juniper Research suggests that focus will pay off handsomely.

Over the next five years, ultrabook shipments will grow three times faster than those of tablets, Juniper Research revealed in a new study today. Tablets, of course, have a significant head start, thanks to solid sales over the last couple of years. So by 2016, tablet vendors could send 253 million units to store shelves worldwide, compared to 178 million ultrabook units.

Even so, that's good news for Intel, which introduced the ultrabook concept. … Read more

PC shipments came in 1.4 percent lower in the fourth quarter of 2011 than in 2010 with a total of 92.2 million PC shipments worldwide, Gartner announced today.

The research company said that even though PC market growth is healthy, the fourth quarter had unusually weak holiday demand.

"While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on consumer PC shipments, expectations of a healthier economic outlook in North America could not stimulate consumer PC demand in that region," said Gartner principal analyst Gartner Mikako Kitagawa in a statement. "The healthy professional PC market as … Read more