Lenovo in Dogfight with HP to Retain Top Spot in PC Shipments

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

HP is one strong quarter away from regaining the PC supply crown

The fourth quarter of 2014 saw 80.8 million PC shipments, representing a year-on-year decline of 2.4 percent, according to the number crunchers at International Data Corporation (IDC). That was enough to beat out expectations of a 4.8 percent decline, which was helped by a strong finish to the year -- the holiday quarter was the only one in which shipments topped 80 million units in 2014. It was especially good for HP, which virtually closed the gap in market share with Lenovo.
Lenovo shipped a bit over 16 million PCs in the fourth quarter of 2014, bumping its share of the market to 19.9 percent, up from 18.5. percent a year prior. Meanwhile, HP shipped over 15.8 million units, giving it a 19.7 percent share of the market, up 3 percentage points from the same quarter in 2013. Only 0.2 percent now separate Lenovo (No. 1) and HP (No. 2).
It will be interesting to see if HP can retake the PC shipment crown from Lenovo in 2015, or if Lenovo is able to fend off its rival, which is the top brand (by volume) in the U.S. (Lenovo is No. 4 in the U.S., behind Apple at No. 3 and Dell at No. 2). Either way, IDC is a bit pessimistic on the market for PCs in general.
"The strength from market leaders, as well as improvement in Asia/Pacific and the consumer market more generally, are positive signs for the PC market," said Loren Loverde, IDC Vice President, Worldwide PC Tracker. "Growth of Chrome, Bing, all-in-ones, ultraslim, convertibles, and touch systems similarly make PCs more compelling and competitive. Nevertheless, some of the gains are relatively small, and weakening drivers like Bing promotions and end of XP support transitions, cast a shadow of doubt on the strength of the market going into 2015."
We're a bit more optimistic than IDC, as there are still a fair number of businesses running Windows XP. Combined with the launch of Windows 10, there will be opportunities for businesses and home consumers alike to consider an upgrade in 2015, especially now that tablet growth has slowed way down. Either way, we'll see hundreds of millions of new PC shipments in 2015, so don't buy into the PC sky is falling nonsense that analysts like to toss out on occasion.
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