IDC: Lenovo Retains Top Spot in PC Shipments, Apple Edges Asus for Fifth Place

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

PC shipment decline not as bad as forecast

The numbers are in and according to International Data Corporation (IDC), Lenovo is still the top supplier of PCs in the world with a 20 percent share of the market in the third quarter of 2014, up from 17.17 percent in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, Apple managed to claw its way into the top five chart by overtaking Asus for fifth place with a 6.3 percent share of the market, up from 5.7 percent a year ago.
Sandwiched in between Lenovo and Apple are HP (No. 2, 18.8 percent, up from 17.5 percent), Dell (No. 3, 13.3 percent, up from 11.9 percent), and Acer (No. 4, 8.4 percent, up from 7.4 percent). All five of the world's top PC suppliers saw gains in market share over the last year, while the "others" category that Asus now belongs to saw a decline to 33.1 percent, down from 39.7 percent.
Made aware of the news, Lenovo issued a statement crediting its ability to stay on top for 6 consecutive quarters to a strong game plan. The Chinese OEM is also quick to point out that it's growing other parts of its business, such as tablets and smartphones.
"Reaching the 20 percent mark in global PC share is a great milestone for Lenovo – and we got there even faster than expected. While others have been looking for a game plan that works, we have been executing ours and the results speak for themselves," Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said in a statement. "Not only have we reached another record high and solidified our PC leadership position for the 6th straight quarter, but we have diversified our business at the same time. We are number 2 in the growing PC+tablet market and number 3 in global tablet sales and servers. And we will soon be number 3 in worldwide smartphones. Even as our revenues approach $50 billion, Lenovo has remained consistent AND nimble."
According to IDC, worldwide PC shipments totaled 78.5 million units in the third quarter of 2014, which represents a 1.7 percent year-on-year decline. IDC called it a "sizable improvement" compared to its forecast of a 4.1 drop.
IDC's data includes desktops, portables, ultraslim notebooks, chromebooks, and workstations; they do not include handhelds, x86 servers, or tablets (iPad or tablets with detachable keyboards running either Windows or Android).
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