Lenovo Overtakes HP in World PC Market, IDC Says
Lenovo Overtakes HP in World PC Market, IDC Says by UCStrategies Staff
Hewlett-Packard no longer has a dominant role in the worldwide PC market, according to the most recent results from market research firm IDC.
The top companies, in descending order, are Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer and ASUS. However, overall, the PC market has fallen 11.4 percent, and growth has not been noted by any PC maker, according to IDC.
Lenovo has now overtaken HP for the number one spot by a slim margin, and has 12.6 million PCs shipped in Q2. HP, in comparison, has had 12.4 million PC shipped in the same quarter, according to IDC. Lenovo’s No. 1 worldwide title can be attributed to its sales falling less than its rivals.
The biggest decline was seen by Acer, whose PC shipped numbers dropped by 32.6 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. A 21.1 percent drop was seen by ASUS during the same time, and Dell saw a 4.2 percent drop.
Since 2006, HP has held the top spot, according to IDC numbers, and in the U.S. the company still retains its top spot ahead of Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Acer. IDC stated that the worldwide and domestic PC shipment numbers include those to distribution channels and end users.
The senior research analyst with IDC Worldwide PC Tracker, Jay Chou, said that Lenovo has been successful at selling PCs in emerging markets like China, India and Brazil, which contributed to gaining the top spot; China represents over half of Lenovo’s Q2 shipments. Chou said: “It's a very challenging time in the market right now.” At the end of the quarter, Lenovo finished with a double-digit decline in Asia-Pacific, which does not include Japan. It did however manage to outpace its rivals.
The chairman and CEO at Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, said: “Even in the toughest PC market ever, Lenovo has not only gained share, but we have steadily improved profitability. ... In our traditional strongholds – China and global commercial PCs – we have continued to gain share and build sustainable profit engines.”
According to Chou, HP and Dell both saw some growth in the last few quarters, and this could show that in the following months, the companies could see a stronger performance, especially as they and their consumers replace old XP computers (support for those finishes in 2014).
The vice president for IDC’s clients and displays, Bob O’Donnell, said: “The U.S. market is beginning to reflect some of the Windows XP to Windows 7 transition we've been expecting in the commercial PC space, as evidenced by the strong growth in the enterprise-focused Dell PC business.”
In the U.S. market, there was a 1.9 percent decline in PC shipments among all computer makers, and this is a huge improvement from the last three quarters of double-digit declines. This positive news could be the result of “wider selections of Windows 8 models offered by top vendors and migration from Window XP to Win7,” which pushed the volume to a higher-than expected level, according to IDC.
Dell performed better than expected with a decline of 4.5 percent. The company managed to go over 3.8 million units for the first time since 2011, and gained some points of share in the U.S. PC market, according to IDC. HP maintained the top spot in the U.S. market, and both vendors accounted for over 50 percent of total U.S. PC shipments in Q2 of 2013. (CY) Link