iSuppli: Worldwide PC Shipments Exceed Expectations
By Colleen Bohen -- TWICE, 10/13/2008
EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. — Worldwide PC shipments exceeded expectations in the second quarter, according to iSuppli, and the market research firm said it is confident about the future of the category in spite of the economy's current state of instability.
The firm reported that worldwide PC shipments grew 14.5 percent in the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in the prior year, reaching 70.2 million units.
"PC shipments came in higher than forecast," Wilkins said. "iSuppli maintains its enthusiasm for the PC market in 2008, despite the challenging conditions. iSuppli's latest forecast for the 2008 PC market estimates unit growth of 12.5 percent."
The firm reported that the top five PC makers all held on to their positions compared to the first quarter.
Hewlett-Packard, No. 1 worldwide, saw 13.4 million units shipped during the quarter, giving it a market share of 19.1 percent, said iSuppli.
HP was followed by Dell, which shipped 11.2 million units and attained a 16 percent market share. The firm said the quarter marked Dell's fourth consecutive quarter of market share growth. "The creation and development of high-profile retail and channel relationships has very much helped Dell bring its PCs to consumers," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, computer platforms for iSuppli. "The company also regained the No. 2 ranking in notebook PC shipments from Acer in the second quarter."
Acer, ranked third worldwide, is said to have grabbed 9.5 percent market share.
Fourth-ranked Lenovo took 7.9 percent share, a 1 percent increase compared with the first quarter.
Preliminary Q2 2008 Worldwide PC Shipment RankingRanking by Unit Shipments in Thousands
| Ranking | Company | Q2 2008 Shipments | Q2 2007 Shipments | Year-to-Year Growth | Q2 2008 Market Share |
| 1 | Hewlett-Packard | 13,397 | 11,198 | 19.6% | 19.1% |
| 2 | Dell | 11,224 | 9,279 | 21.0% | 16.0% |
| 3 | Acer | 6,653 | 5,685 | 17.0% | 9.5% |
| 4 | Lenovo | 5,570 | 4,869 | 14.4% | 7.9% |
| 5 | Toshiba | 3,185 | 2,570 | 23.9% | 4.5% |
| Others | 30,164 | 27,718 | 8.8% | 43.0% | |
| Total | 70,193 | 61,319 | 14.5% | 100.0% |
