Lenovo Reclaims Top Spot as Biggest PC Maker

[beijingwalker]

Lenovo Reclaims Top Spot as Biggest PC Maker

Published: Wednesday, 10 Jul 2013 | 11:55 PM ET
By: Rajeshni Naidu-Ghelani

China's Lenovo overtook U.S. tech giant Hewlett-Packard to become the No. 1 personal computer (PC) maker in the world in the second quarter of this year, according to two technology research firms Gartner and IDC.

Lenovo did briefly overtake HP as the No. 1 PC maker in the third quarter of last year, but that was only according to data from Gartner. IDC had still maintained that HP was on top in the same period.

This time around market leader Lenovo managed to take the top spot despite a slowdown in PC shipments in the June quarter. It shipped more computers that both HP and Dell even though its own numbers fell 1.4 percent compared to the same period last year, according to IDC.

In fact, Lenovo showed the smallest decline in PC shipments in the second quarter compared to all other firms in the top five, which also include Taiwan's Acer and ASUS.

The reason for the fall in shipments was China - which represents over 50 percent of Lenovo shipments, and where short-term economic and inventory hurdles cut into second quarter shipments, said IDC in a release.

CNBC casts the spotlight on the grand master of China's entrepreneurs - Liu Chanzhi, the founder of China's largest PC maker Lenovo. He discusses what Beijing should do to create an innovation-based economy.

The PC market contracted globally in the second quarter, with worldwide shipments falling almost 11 percent year on year with the Asia-Pacific region falling for a fifth straight quarter, according to Gartner.


"In emerging markets, inexpensive tablets have become the first computing device for many people, who at best are deferring the purchase of a PC." Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner said.

Close Race to the Top

The number of global shipments for Lenovo and HP show what a close race it is for supremacy in the PC world. IDC says Lenovo shipped 12.6 million PCs in the second quarter, compared to 12.4 million for HP - which gives it only a 0.3 percent lead in the market. According to Gartner data, Lenovo shipped 0.4 percent more PCs than HP.

Even though HP was slightly behind Lenovo globally, it is the market leader in key regions like the U.S., Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Gartner said.