Are PCs growing or declining? While Gartner reports on a virtually flat Q2 2012 for the WW PC market , Canalys breaks the mould by saying global PC shipments grow by 11.7% Y-o-Y in the quarter.

When it comes to EMEA, Gartner says Q2 2012 growth totals all of 1.9% Y-o-Y, as demand remains "very weak." Unlike Canalys, who says EMEA Y-o-Y growth is up to 17.3%.

It all boils down to what the analysts actually define as a "PC." Canalys adds tablets to its PC market totals. Gartner and virtually all other analysts (such as IDC) do not.

As a result Canalys says "2012 is shaping to be a record year"-- but only for vendors selling tablets. However when it comes to Windows PCs Canalys echoes all other analysts with talk of new lows and disappointing shipments.

According to the analyst tablet shipments total 24 million units with 75% Y-o-Y growth, making up 22% of the WW PC market.

Apple leads the overall PC vendor rankings with 19.4% market share thanks to (what else?) the iPad. HP follows with a -11.3% Y-o-Y decline and 12.5% share (Gartner puts HP on top of its Q2 2012 vendor rankings).

Lenovo is 3rd thanks to strong shipments in its Chinese home market, while Acer makes "good progress" in Russia, Germany and the UK.

When it comes to Android tablets, Samsung is top vendor with its Galaxy Tab range, as does Asus with the cheap TF300 tablet.

Will Microsoft manage to make a dent on global tablet (or PC, depending on who you're asking) numbers with its recently announced Windows-powered Surface? Not according to Canalys, who says the Surface will have "a similar impact on the PC industry as the Zune did in portable music players." Ouch!

Go 2012 Will Bring New World Record in PC Shipments (Canalys)