Lenovo claims new milestone as global PC leader

Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group said yesterday it had become the global market leader in consumer and notebook PCs as it posted a 13 percent rise in second-quarter net profit.

Net profit for the three months to the end of September rose to $162.1 million from $143.9 million a year earlier, the company said. Revenue climbed 11 percent to $8.67 billion from $7.79 billion a year earlier.

“Lenovo became the worldwide number one consumer and notebook PC company in fiscal quarter two and remained the largest PC company in emerging markets, including China,” the company told the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Its share of the overall PC market reached a record high of 15.6 percent in the July-September quarter, it added, putting it just 0.2 percent shy of leader Hewlett-Packard.

Lenovo has been outperforming rivals such as U.S.-based HP and Dell, with a rise in PC shipments of 10 percent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, despite softening global demand.

Worldwide PC shipments have been declining as consumer habits change and more people connect to the Internet through smartphones and tablets instead of more cumbersome PCs and laptops.

A survey by research firm Gartner last month gave Lenovo 15.7 percent of the overall PC market, ahead of HP with 15.5 percent.

Gartner said Dell was the No. 3 maker with a 10.5 percent global market share followed by Taiwan’s Acer with 9.8 percent and Asus, another Taiwan firm, with 7.3 percent.

A separate report showed global sales of PCs are set to show a decline for the first time in 11 years.

The survey by IHS iSuppli said the total PC market is expected to contract 1.2 percent this year to 348.7 million units, down from 352.8 million in 2011.

That would be the first drop since 2001, but sales have been sluggish for the past two years.

IHS said a strong rebound could still occur in 2013, with more adoption of Windows 8 computers and newer, thinner notebook computers gaining traction.

AFP