Asustek PC shipments buck global downtrend in Q3: Gartner

Asustek Computer Inc. (??), one of Taiwan's leading personal computer brands, bucked the global downtrend in PC shipments to register a 2.4 percent year-on-year increase for the third quarter of this year, according to market information advisory firm Gartner.

In a preliminary research report, Gartner said that Asustek shipped about 5.40 million PCs from July to September, up 2.4 percent from 5.27 million units over the same period last year, while global shipments fell 5.7 percent year-on-year to 68.95 million units during the same period.

Due to the increase, Asustek is now ranked as the fourth largest PC vendor in the world with a 7.8 percent share of the global market, up from 7.2 percent a year earlier, the report said.

Acer Inc. (??), another major Taiwanese PC vendor, saw its shipments for the third quarter fall 14.1 percent from a year earlier to 4.61 million units. Acer's global market share for the third quarter also dropped to 6.7 percent from 7.3 percent a year earlier, making the firm the sixth largest PC brand in the world.

The Garner data showed that China's Lenovo Group (??) came in first place with a 20.9 percent share of the global market in the third quarter, up from 20.2 percent one year earlier.

Despite the increase in market share, Lenovo shipped 14.43 million PCs in the third quarter, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the statistics indicated.

HP Inc. and Dell Inc. were the second and third largest PC brands, taking a 20.4 percent share and a 14.7 percent share of the global market in the third quarter.

HP, benefited from rising sales of commercial PCs and saw its shipments rise 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 14.06 million units. Dell shipped 10.11 million PCs in the third quarter, up 2.6 percent from the previous year.

Apple Inc. came fifth in the third quarter. The U.S. consumer electronics giant's shipments fell 13.4 percent from a year earlier to 4.95 million units, with Apple's global market share dropping from 7.8 percent to 7.2 percent.

The six top vendors accounted for 78 percent of total global shipments in the third quarter, the highest-ever level, according to Gartner.

Commenting on global PC shipments, Gartner said that the third quarter marked the eighth consecutive quarter shipments have fallen, the longest downturn in the PC industry's history.

"There are two fundamental issues that have impacted PC market results: the extension of the lifetime of the PC caused by the excess of consumer devices and weak PC consumer demand in emerging markets," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

The analyst said that although PC penetration remained low in emerging markets, consumers there were not keen to have their own PCs.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel