Lenovo pulling away from HP in race for PC crown

Gartner and IDC figures both show Chinese giant beginning to pull away from chasing pack following double-digit growth in Q2

Lenovo has declared victory in the PC market after both IDC and Gartner figures showed the Chinese giant streaking ahead of nearest rival HP.

Gartner figures suggest global PC shipments reached 75.8 million units in the second quarter, meaning it was flat compared with a year ago but a welcome change following eight quarters of decline.

The analyst said declining demand in emerging markets offset stabilisation across more mature regions, but pointed to Lenovo as a stand-out performer.

The Chinese firm grew the fastest out of the all the top-five PC vendors, with shipments rising 15.1 per cent annually to 14.5 million, according to Gartner.

Second-place HP saw its shipments jump 9.3 per cent to 13.4 million over the same period but it was not enough to keep pace with Lenovo.

Gartner's boffins now have Lenovo on 19.2 per cent market share compared with HP's share of 17.7 per cent. In the same quarter last year, the duo were almost level on 16.7 and 16.2 per cent respectively.

IDC gave an equally glowing report for Lenovo but said the vendor is not seeing lightning growth in all regions.

"Lenovo furthered its lead as the number-one vendor, showing a strong rebound from a slower first quarter through continued aggressive expansion and pricing strategies," IDC said.

"It grew in double digits in nearly all markets, though its home base in Asia-Pacific remained challenging."

Lenovo's chief executive Yang Yuanqing said its strong Q2 performance is set to continue in the long term.

"[We have] again proven our ability to drive growth, no matter the market conditions," he said. "We are pleased to see the PC market improving, as this creates even more opportunity for Lenovo to build on our momentum.

"Now we have a potent balance: a proven core PC business and new strong growth engines in mobile devices and in our enterprise business."

PC shipments in EMEA totalled 22.5 million units in the second quarter, Gartner said, an 8.6 per cent increase from the same period last year.

Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said EMEA's PC market forecast is looking rosy.

"2014 is on pace to be a year of relative revival in the global PC market and that change is most pronounced in western Europe," he said.

"In EMEA during the second quarter we saw a continued shift to ultramobiles at the expense of traditional notebooks."