Worldwide PC shipments up 21 per cent

Figures higher than expected, says Gartner

PC shipments increased in the second quarter 2010

IT industry analyst Gartner has today released figures showing a higher than expected growth in global PC shipments for the second quarter 2010.

Worldwide PC shipments reached 82.9 million units in the second quarter of 2010, a 20.7 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2009, according to Gartner's figures.

"The PC market during 2009 was pretty weak, so this is growth over a poor year in 2009," said Ranjit Atwal, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"We're expecting PCs to be replaced because life cycles were extended last year [due to recession-driven budget cuts]. Businesses need to make sure the PCs they have will provide them with the required productivity. Those that are still sitting on XP will have to move to Windows 7, [and that's an opportunity] to upgrade PCs too," Atwal added.

Atwal was unwilling to extend the strong performance of PC sales to infer the beginnings of a global economic upturn: "Be careful not to extrapolate [the results] to relate to the wider industry," he warned.