PC shipments worldwide rose 14.7% in 2004 to 177.5 million units, IDC said, while rival market research firm Gartner reported an 11.8% increase in PC unit shipments to 189 million.
The figures differ because IDC and Gartner use different methodologies to measure the global PC market.
Overall, strong sales of notebook PCs and steady consumer and small and medium business demand, as well as large corporations updating aged PCs, helped to drive growth in 2004 from 2003, IDC and Gartner analysts said.
There had been concerns in the fourth quarter and in December that the PC market was headed for a sharp slowdown.
"Overall these are very solid results," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC`s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "In December and last quarter, there was some concern that growth was going to slow down due to comments from Intel and general concern that the recovery might be over."
Intel is the world`s largest chipmaker, and its microprocessors power more than 80% of the world`s PCs.
Dell widened its lead over rival HP in 2004, achieving 17.9% market share of the worldwide PC market, up from 16.7% in 2003, IDC said. HP trailed Dell with 15.8%, down from 16.2% in 2003.
"HP had a weaker fourth quarter and their growth was below the overall market rate," said Charles Smulders, VP of Gartner`s Computing Platforms Worldwide Group.
"The weaker performance by HP in the fourth quarter may have been a contributory factor to the reorganisation that was announced last week."
On Friday, Palo Alto, California-based HP said it was folding its barely profitable PC business into its lucrative Imaging and Printing Group, which generates the bulk of HP`s operating profit. The move effectively quashed further speculation that HP might spin off the printing unit.
Falling component prices in the fourth quarter allowed Dell to cut prices further and gain margin and market share, Gartner`s Smulders said.
Fourth-quarter shipments of PCs were also in line with expectations, the firms said. IDC reported that worldwide PC unit shipments climbed 13.7% to 51.5 million in the quarter from a year earlier, helped by strong notebook PC sales.
IBM, which recently agreed to sell its PC business, ended 2004 as the number three PC maker, with 5.9% share of the PC market, Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens was number four with 4% share and Acer rounded out the top five with 3.6% share of the PC market, IDC said.
The remaining PC makers accounted for 52.7% of the global market, according to IDC.
In the US, Dell and HP remained number one and two, respectively, IDC and Gartner said, while Gateway, which last year bought privately held eMachines, ended 2004 as the number three US PC maker, with 6.4% of the market.
Gartner showed Apple Computer gaining share in 2004, thanks in part to its revamped iMac G5 all-in-one desktop computer. Apple closed out 2004 with 3.2% of the US PC market, up from 2.9% in 2003, and the fifth largest US PC maker, the firm said.
"Apple is on a roll right now," Smulders said.
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