China Overtakes US In PC Sales And Shipments

Posted 08/23/2011 at 10:21am | by Brad Chacos

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For as long as PCs have been around, Americans have been the ones buying them. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the old Stars n’ Stripes dominated the PC salescape when you remember that the field was pioneered by US-based companies like Apple and IBM. Now, that streak has come to an end; a new report says that China surpassed the US in both PC shipments and sales in the second quarter of 2011.

While American PC sales languish, the Chinese market is booming. The IDC research group says Chinese PC shipments increased by 14.3 percent to 18.5 million units, while a 4.8 percent slump in the US brought shipment totals to just 17.7 million. That shipment shift corresponded with sales numbers, Computerworld reports. China’s PC sales topped $11.9 billion; the US clocked in just under that number at $11.7 billion.

China’s unexpected rise came from a surprising number of enterprise purchases, whereas the poor American PC sales are being blamed on a strong showing by tablets.