PC Shipments Rise 18% to 71 million

Worldwide shipments of personal computers climbed 18% to 70.9 million units in 1996, with Compaq Computer Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. showing the biggest gains, according to market research firm Dataquest. Struggling Apple Computer Inc. suffered the biggest worldwide decline in shipments and saw its market share decline further, Dataquest said in its year-end report. Although the PC industry had robust growth, the increase in unit shipments was less than that in 1995 because of declining growth in the consumer market, the research firm said. “While some vendors suffered from slowing PC home sales, others excelled,” said Scott Miller, senior PC analyst at Dataquest, based in San Jose. Compaq retained its position as the No. 1 PC vendor in the world for three years in a row, with 7.1 million units shipped in 1996, an increase of 19% from 1995.