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New worldwide PC sales figures from research outfits Gartner and IDC show a shifting landscape among the major vendor brands with Taiwan-based Acer and Asus suffering the most.
The world’s largest PC makers according to IDC, HP and Dell, slipped 2.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively. The picture would have been worse still if it wasn’t for sales growth in developing markets. IDC said HP took advantage of "surging demand" in Latin America.
Dell’s home US market took a battering, posting an 11.8 per cent fall in PC shipments. However IDC said Dell had made "significant strides" in emerging markets including a major win in China which allowed Dell to slightly outperform market at large.
Chinese PC builder Lenovo "significantly outperformed" the market, according to the IDC report with 16.3 per cent growth. IDC attributed the growth to continued dominance in Asia/Pacific while also "maintaining a disciplined channel expansion in other markets."
Lenovo’s gains only serve to highlight the astonishing fall from grace of fellow Chinese brand Acer. Acer US sales plummeted an astonishing 42.1 per cent which IDC said was the result of the firm being most exposed to the weak consumer notebook market.
5th largest PC maker, notebook specialist Toshiba, managed an impressive 3.8 per cent growth which IDC contrasted against Acer’s by highlighting Toshiba’s lack of exposure in the "mini notebook segment."
European figures released by Gartner show that another Taiwanese brand Asus had suffered a 10.8 per cent fall in shipments. Asus was and remains an active player in the mini notebook market as well.
Apple surged ahead in the US market to take the 4th spot with 9.6 per cent growth but that wasn’t enough to place worldwide where Apple desktops and notebooks are less popular.
Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, First Quarter 2011 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, April 13, 2011
Top 5 Vendors, United States PC Shipments, First Quarter 2011 (Preliminary) (Units Shipments are in thousands)
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, April 13, 2011
