Lenovo tightens PC stranglehold as shipments rebound

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Lenovo has extended its PC market lead as Windows 10 fuelled a rebound in shipments in the second quarter.

Demand from Windows 10 refresh in the business market drove a 1.5 per cent year on year rise in global PC shipments in Q2, compared with 4.6 per cent and 4.3 per cent declines endured in Q1 and Q4 2018, respectively.

The EMEA market also returned to growth, with shipments up 1.7 per cent.

Lenovo was the big winner, hitting 15 per cent growth in the three months to 30 June 2019, although Gartner admitted it is "possible" these gains "reflected some anticipation of the potential tariffs".

The Chinese vendor is now sitting pretty on 25 per cent marketshare, ahead of HP (22.2 per cent) and Dell (16.9 per cent), who grew a more modest 2.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively.

Together, this leading trio increased their marketshare from 60.7 to 64.1 per cent.

"Worldwide PC shipments growth was driven by demand from the Windows 10 refresh in the business market in the second quarter of 2019. Desktop PC growth was strong, which offset a decline in mobile PC shipments," said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner.

Although there are "signs" the Intel CPU shortage "is easing", the ongoing trade dispute between the US and Chain "adds uncertainty to the near-term outlook for PC demand", Kitagawa added.

"While the US-China trade war did not impact the PC market in the second quarter of 2019, the next phase of tariffs could have significant impact. Most laptops and tablets are currently manufactured in China and sales of these devices in the U.S. could face significant price increases if the punitive tariffs are imposed and vendors do not take quick action to respond," said Kitagawa.

Business demand remained "strong" in Europe thanks to continued Windows 10 deployments. On the consumer front, most mainstream European users aren't seeing enough innovation outside gaming and high-end mobile PCs, leading to "continued weak demand", however, Gartner said.