China Pc Market

BEIJING—China for the first time has passed the U.S. to become the world's biggest personal-computer market, highlighting the growing importance of a country where big U.S. PC makers have struggled to compete against China's Lenovo Group Ltd.0992.HK -0.33%

The shift underlines rapid industry changes in the PC industry world-wide. Consumer demand for PCs has soared in emerging markets, while it has faltered in developed markets. Meanwhile, the rise of smartphones and tablet computers, most notably AppleInc. AAPL +0.10% 's iPhone and iPad, has raised concerns that purchases of such products could eat into demand for traditional desktop and laptop PCs. Reflecting those challenges, Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -0.53% , which is the world's biggest PC maker but has lost popularity with Chinese consumers, last week said it is considering a sale or spinoff of its personal-computer business.

China has topped the U.S. as the largest PC market worldwide, underlining rapid a rapid industry change in which consumer demand for PCs has soared in emerging markets, while it has faltered in developed markets.

"The center of gravity of the PC industry has shifted away from the developed world," said David Wolf, chief executive of Wolf Group Asia, a Beijing-based marketing-strategy firm.

PC shipments to China came to 18.5 million units in the second quarter, exceeding the 17.7 million shipped to the U.S., analyst Avinash K. Sundaram of IDC said Tuesday. The market-research firm still expects the U.S. to receive slightly more PC shipments than China for the year as a whole as sales in the U.S. usually surge during the year-end holiday season. But IDC expects China's PC shipments to reach 85.1 million units for all of next year, compared with 76.6 million for the U.S.

The growth in China has been fueled by rising demand from consumers and companies and by increased government spending.

China's massive market and fast-growing economy have started reshaping an array of industries....