Asus' PC Shipments up 12% YoY in Q3 2012

Taipei, Nov. 7, 2012 (CENS)--Worldwide PC shipments totaled 87.5 million units in the third quarter of 2012, down 8.3% year-on-year (YoY), according to preliminary results by Gartner Inc. Among the top-5 PC vendors, only the No. 1 Lenovo of China and No. 5 Asus of Taiwan saw YoY sales increases of 9.8% and 11.8%, respectively.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, pointed out that a continuing slowdown in consumer PC shipments played a big part in the overall PC market decline. The third quarter was also a transitional quarter before Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system (OS) release, so shipments were less vigorous as vendors and their channel partners liquidated inventory, he explained.

Lenovo led in worldwide PC shipments for the first time in its history, as its share increased to 15.7%, while HP's global PC share was at 15.5%. In addition to acquiring other vendors, Lenovo has also taken an aggressive position on pricing, especially in the professional market. As a result, Lenovo has achieved significant market share gains over the last two years, exceeding regional average growth rates across all regions.

In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 15.3 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 13.8% decline compared with the same period last year. From a regional perspective, PC shipments in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region totaled 25.8 million units, a YoY decline of 8.7%. Western Europe saw very weak shipments across all countries, as retailers substantially reduced Windows 7 inventory in anticipation of the arrival of Windows 8 products in late October.

In Asia/Pacific, PC shipments reached 31.3 million units, a 5.6% YoY decline. Gartner's preliminary results show PC shipments in Latin America surpassed 9.7 million units, a 6.2% YoY decline. Mobile PC shipments were flat, and desk-based PC shipments declined 14.3%. In Japan, PC shipments totaled 3.7 million units, a 5.4% decline.

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Shipment Estimates for 3Q12*
Company	3Q12 Shipments	3Q12 Share (%)	3Q11 Shipments	3Q11 Market Share (%)	3Q12-3Q11 Growth (%)
Lenovo	13,767,976	15.7	12,536,756	13.1	9.8
HP	13,550,761	15.5	16,217,987	17.0	-16.4
Dell	9,216,638	10.5	10,676,513	11.2	-13.7
Acer Group	8,633,267	9.9	9,616,572	10.1	-10.2
ASUS	6,380,690	7.3	5,708,807	6.0	11.8
Others	35,954,748	41.1	40,683,666	42.6	-11.6
Total	87,504,080	100.0	95,440,301	100.0	-8.3
*: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Source: Gartner (October 2012)