HP Reclaims Global PC Sales Lead From Apple

HP has reclaimed its crown as the world's top supplier of PCs after Apple snatched away that title late last year. According to research firm Canalys, HP has managed to surpass Apple's PC sales by about 40,000 units in the first quarter of 2012, putting HP back in the lead. The numbers have been including Apple's iPad shipments as part of its PC count.

(Apple touted its top spot during the iPad 2 launch event, pictured above.)

Canalys explained that Apple's previous lead was largely due to the company's fourth quarter 2011 iPad shipments, numbering 15 million units. But following the holiday season, Apple's tablet shipments fell to 11.8 million units, which brought the company's total PC shipments to 15.8 million units. Meanwhile, HP's PC shipments remained steady.

Rounding out the top five PC suppliers are Lenovo, Acer, and Dell, in that order. Lenovo in third place saw an impressive year-on-year growth of 50 percent, while Acer and Dell both saw a slight decline when compared to the same quarter last year.

Overall PC market grew by 21 percent to 107 million units and while tablet shipments grew the most by 200 percent, notebook and desktop PC shipments also rose by 11 percent and 8 percent, respectively. However, netbook shipments slipped down 34 percent, falling for six straight quarters.