According to both IDC and Gartner, HP has retained their spot as the top seller of PC hardware, beating out Dell for the second quarter in a row. During the fourth quarter of 2006, HP sold more than 11 million PCs, compared to Dell’s 9.5 million. In terms of yearly totals, the two companies appeared to be tied, both having sold somewhere between 15.9 and 17 percent of the total number of PCs shipped worldwide (IDC and Gartner differ on these numbers). While Dell remains the top seller of PCs in the U.S., the company is at risk of losing that title to HP as well. “Dell’s market share was its lowest in four years,” said Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa. “It lost market share across all segments in the [U.S.], particularly the home market. The fourth quarter’s consumer bias favors HP; however Dell’s accelerated shipment decline in the fourth quarter is surprising.” In the third quarter of 2006, HP shipped more PCs than Dell worldwide for the first time since 2003.

For more on fourth quarter PC sales:
– see this eWeek article