July 9 (Reuters) - Global shipments of personal

computers rose by 3% in the second quarter, helped by demand for

AI-capable devices, with Apple ( AAPL ) seeing the biggest

growth among PC makers, preliminary data from research firm IDC

showed on Tuesday.

PC shipments reached 64.9 million units in the three months

ended June, marking a second straight quarter of growth after

two years of decline, the report said.

According to IDC, Apple's ( AAPL ) shipments jumped 20.8% from the

second quarter of 2023, the biggest rise among global PC makers,

followed by a gain of 13.7% by Acer Group.

The market for PCs is expected to rebound from a lull in

orders following the pandemic-driven buying spree.

Two consecutive quarters of growth, the market hype around

artificial intelligence PCs and a commercial refresh cycle seem

to be what the PC market needed, said Ryan Reith, group vice

president at IDC's Worldwide Device Trackers.

"The buzz is clearly around AI, but a lot is happening with

non-AI PC purchasing to make this mature market show signs of

positivity."

However, weak results in China continued to hold the market

back, IDC said, adding that excluding the country, worldwide

shipments grew more than 5% in the quarter year-over-year.

China's Lenovo Group ( LNVGF ) saw the highest market share

of 22.7%, followed by HP with 21.1%.

Dell technologies' market share was at 15.5% while

its shipments fell 2.4%.