After Nearly Two Years of Decline, Notebook PC Shipments Improve in Q2, 2014

After seven consecutive quarters of declining shipments, the global notebook PC market showed improvement in the second quarter of this year. According to preliminary figures from NPD DisplaySearch, an international market research firm, notebook shipments reached 45.1 million units in Q2, up 1% from the same period of 2013.

Two Taiwanese PC vendors were on the list of top-five suppliers: Asustek Computer Inc. (Asus brand) and Acer Inc. (Acer). Thanks to increased shipments to Europe, China, and Asia, Asus pulled ahead of Dell to the No. 3 position in the second quarter. Acer, with a market share of 10%, ranked fifth.

“North America and Western Europe have improved to positive double-digit growth, due to a combination of commercial PC replacement cycles and Windows XP migration in 2014,” said Hisakazu Torii, vice president, smart application research at NPD DisplaySearch. “The notebook PC market has also benefited from the launch of Chromebooks and other low-priced notebook PCs.”

After declining 20% last year, notebook shipments by the top five brands grew by 16% in the second quarter of this year.

With strong sales in Europe, China, and Latin America, the Lenovo Group of China overtook HP to lead the market with a share of 18%.

In contrast to notebooks, shipments of tablet PCs continued to fall in the second quarter, declining by 12% . Shipments were down for all of the top five brands.

Top 5 Notebook PC Suppliers by Market Share in Q2, 2014
	Q2'14 Share	Q2'13 Share	Y/Y Growth
Lenovo Group	18%	14%	36%
HP	17%	16%	13%
Asus	11%	9%	19%
Dell	11%	10%	10%
Acer Group	10%	11%	-3%
Top Five Brands Total	67%	60%	16%
Note: Starting in Q1 '14, NPD DisplaySearch includes CCE, Medion, NEC, and the Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group (MIDH) in Lenovo shipments. Source: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report