It’s been a long time coming, but China finally surpassed the United States as the world’s largest PC market last year, according to the latest report by US high-tech market research firm iSuppli. In 2012, PC shipments to the Chinese market reached 69 million units; compared to a paltry 66 million units shipped to the US.

The report also noted several unique features of the Chinese market—nearly 50 percent of all units shipped to China are desktop computers, as compared to only 36 percent of units shipped to other countries. Also, the 14-inch notebook is the most popular in China, accounting for 70 percent of notebook units, as compared to only 30 percent of notebook units shipped to other countries. Finally, less than 50 percent of units shipped to China come pre-installed with an operating system, as compared to 90 percent of units shipped to other countries (no doubt an indicator of the massive Windows OS piracy happening here).

iSuppli predicts that PC shipments to China will continue to grow by only 3-4 percent this year, as more and more consumers gradually turn to mobile devices.

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Keywords: China world’s largest PC market