Including This Metric, Apple (AAPL) Becomes #1 PC Shipper in Q411

Yes, tablets are eating PC's lunch.

According to research from Canalys, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has surpassed Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) in becoming the number one PC vendor around the globe. As a side note, Canalys is including the iPad tablet numbers in calculations, something other research firms avoid doing (though iPads technically count as a PC...er, Mac).

Apple's shipments of about 15 million iPads and 5 million Macs in the quarter garnered it 17 percent of the 120 million PCs Canalys estimates were shipped in the fourth-quarter of 2011.

The total PC market grew 16 percent in the quarter, though it consolidated 0.4 percent excluding tablet PCs.

Overall, tablets accounted for 22 percent of PC shipments in Q4, and Canalys noted: "In addition to Apple’s strong performance, the Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle Fire and the [Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS)] NOOK Tablet...boosted volumes in the U.S. market, allowing both vendors to claim spots among the top five worldwide pad makers, in second and fifth place respectively."

On Thai flooding, Canalys commented that the event "caused mild disruption to shipments during the quarter, but the side effects are likely to be felt in the first half of 2012."

Apple is indicated higher Tuesday morning.

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