Lenovo Tops Global PC Shipments in Q3 According To IDC

Lenovo ranked top on PC shipments in Q3 among all PC producers, with a market share of 24 percent, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

HP and Dell Inc. came next, with 22.8 percent and 17 percent market shares, respectively. Acer Group and Apple ranked fourth and fifth, with an approximate 7 percent market share each.

Analyst groups have attributed Lenovo’s good performance to the joint venture with Fujitsu, better business PC sales and a smarter North American strategy. Benefiting from a revamped channel strategy and more stable management, the company saw a marked improvement in its North American business.

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Geographically, the U.S. PC market had another growth quarter with a total of 17.2 million units shipped. The PC market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa remained flattish while the Asia Pacific region(excluding Japan) recorded a single-digit decline. The Japanese market beat expectation for its migration to Windows 10.

“Despite looming concerns around CPU shortages, the PC market in the U.S. turned in a good quarter backed by strong results in the notebook segment,” said Neha Mahajan, senior research analyst, US Devices & Displays. “Healthy business PC volume, steady Chromebook shipments to U.S. K-12, and a growing gaming consumer base have been the key reasons for the optimism around the U.S. PC markets.”

Shipments of traditional PCs (desktop, notebook, and workstation) for the third quarter of 2018 reached about 67.4 million units, a year-on-year decline of 0.9 percent. Compared with the forecasted 3 percent drop, the Q3 performance exceeded analysts’ expectation. Strong demand as well as increasing inventory before supply issues arise and price rises contributed to the results.

“But the outlook remains uncertain as we head into the holiday season, when volume will be boosted by many consumer-oriented promotions in entry-level SKUs,” said Jay Chou, research manager with IDC’s Personal Computing Device Tracker.