HP has been the biggest maker of desktop and notebook PCs for a number of years, but today one report claims that HP has lost that position to a rival. In its quarterly report on the PC hardware industry, Gartner claims that Lenovo shipped more PCs worldwide in the July-September 2012 quarter than any other company.
Specifically, Gartner claims that Lenovo shipped 13,767,976 PC units during the last quarter, versus HP"s numbers of 13,550,761 units. Overall, the PC companies shipped 87.5 million units in the third quarter, down eight percent from the same period a year ago.
A rival research firm, IDC, still shows HP as the number one worldwide PC maker with 13.946 million units shipped in the third quarter, ever so slightly over Lenovo with 13.824 million units. However, the numbers are still swinging in Lenovo"s direction and it"s more than possible that IDC"s next quarterly report will show Lenovo on top.
Gartner and IDC both show that HP is still king of the PC castle in the US, with Gartner claiming that HP shipped 4,141,926 units in the third quarter. Dell was second in the US, followed by Apple. Lenovo is fourth in the US PC market with just 1,357,882 units shipped in the last quarter.
As we have previously reported, there"s a good chance that even with the launch of Windows 8, overall shipments of PCs worldwide will be slightly lower in 2012 than they were in 2011.
Source: Gartner
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