Infotech Lead Asia: HP, Dell, Acer and Asus have reported significant decline in PC shipments in Q1 2013. Lenovo reported flat growth in the quarter.
HP continues to lead the global PC market.
According to IDC, global Worldwide PC shipments touched 76.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013, down 13.9 percent. Poor demand for Microsoft Windows 8 was one of the reasons for the worst performance.
Vendor performance by IDC’s market report
| Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, First Quarter 2013 (Preliminary) | |||||||||||||||
| (Units Shipments are in thousands) | |||||||||||||||
| Vendor | 1Q13 Shipments |
1Q13 Market Share |
1Q12 Shipments |
1Q12 Market Share |
1Q13/1Q12 Growth |
||||||||||
| 1. HP | 11,997 | 15.7% | 15,726 | 17.7% | -23.7% | ||||||||||
| 2. Lenovo | 11,700 | 15.3% | 11,705 | 13.2% | 0.0% | ||||||||||
| 3. Dell | 9,010 | 11.8% | 10,110 | 11.4% | -10.9% | ||||||||||
| 4. Acer Group | 6,150 | 8.1% | 8,952 | 10.1% | -31.3% | ||||||||||
| 5. ASUS | 4,363 | 5.7% | 5,401 | 6.1% | -19.2% | ||||||||||
| Others | 33,075 | 43.4% | 36,739 | 41.5% | -10.0% | ||||||||||
| Total | 76,294 | 100.0% | 88,635 | 100.0% | -13.9% | ||||||||||
| Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, April 10, 2013 | |||||||||||||||
HP’s shipments of PCs fell more than 23 percent in Q1 2013, with significant declines across all regions, as internal restructuring continued to affect commercial sales. Though HP maintained its leadership position in the United States, the company saw U.S. shipments fall 22.9 percent from a year ago.
Lenovo remained second in global shipments and nearly closed the gap with HP. Lenovo continued to outpace the market, expanding shipments with its attack strategy. In the United States, Lenovo outperformed the market with double digit year-on-year growth compared to the market’s double-digit contraction. Shipments in Asia/Pacific declined, however, keeping Lenovo’s overall growth flat.
Dell saw shipments decline by more than -10 percent globally and -14 percent in the United States. The vendor continued to face tough competition and struggled with customer uncertainty about the direction of its restructuring. Nevertheless, the decline in shipments was smaller than the past few quarters, and its sales to Asia/Pacific returned to positive growth.
Acer Group continued to see substantial declines in shipments across regions. As the leader in Mini Notebook shipments, the vendor has been particularly exposed to the decline in these systems. Slow consumer and SMB growth has also taken a toll. In a sequential comparison, Acer’s market share rose slightly to 8.1 percent in Q1 2012 from 8.0 percent in Q4 2012, halting its market share decline.
ASUS managed some growth in the United States, but saw a substantial decline in EMEA and Asia/Pacific. The company’s substantial surge in Americas shipments in the second half of 2012 gave way to limited growth as demand weakened.
Apple fared better than the overall U.S. market, but still saw shipments decline as its own PCs also face competition from iPads.
Toshiba also saw shipments decline in the United States, but fared better than the overall market, benefitting somewhat from the restructuring of market leaders HP and Dell.
Gartner’s PC market report
PC shipments totaled 79.2 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a 11.2 percent decline from the first quarter of 2012, according to preliminary results by Gartner.
| Table 2 Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q13 (Units) |
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| Company | 1Q13 Shipments |
1Q13 Market Share (%) |
1Q12 Shipments |
1Q12 Market Share (%) |
1Q13-1Q12 Growth (%) |
|||||||||||
| HP | 3,447,894 | 24.2 | 4,493,572 | 28.5 | -23.3 | |||||||||||
| Dell | 2,956,661 | 20.8 | 3,459,925 | 22.0 | -14.5 | |||||||||||
| Apple | 1,650,012 | 11.6 | 1,535,951 | 9.8 | 7.4 | |||||||||||
| Toshiba | 1,278,883 | 9.0 | 1,349,900 | 8.6 | -5.3 | |||||||||||
| Lenovo | 1,265,902 | 8.9 | 1,112,582 | 7.1 | 13.8 | |||||||||||
| Others | 3,623,468 | 25.5 | 3,788,927 | 24.1 | -4.4 | |||||||||||
| Total | 14,222,820 | 100.0 | 15,740,856 | 100.0 | -9.6 | |||||||||||
| Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Source: Gartner (April 2013) |
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Lenovo’s worldwide PC shipments were flat compared with a year ago. While its shipment growth rate exceeded the overall industry average, it was Lenovo’s slowest growth since the first quarter of 2009. The slowdown was attributed to a shipment decline in Asia/Pacific, where more than 50 percent of Lenovo’s PCs were shipped.
Dell also had a challenging quarter, registering a shipment decline in all regions except Japan. In Gartner’s preliminary view, Dell’s shipment growth in Japan was boosted by moderate demand, driven by a corporate refresh. Dell’s discussions about a possible leveraged buyout impacted shipments, as competitors aggressively attacked Dell’s position in the professional market.
Apple and Lenovo were the only vendors among the top five in the U.S. to experience PC shipment growth in the first quarter of 2013. HP held onto the top position, accounting for 24.2 percent of PC shipments in the U.S.; however, its shipments declined 23.3 percent from the first quarter of 2012.
Baburajan K
