DIGITIMES surveyed the global top five notebook brands (excluding Apple) and top three notebook ODMs' shipments in April 2026 (excluding detachable models). In April, with global channel retailers taking a break in re-stocking inventory, it led to a combined sequential shipment decline of 33% for the top five notebook brands. Compared to the same period in 2025, the shipments also decreased by nearly 3% year-on-year.
The significant sequential drop in overall notebook market shipments in April was due to seasonal factors as well as price hikes implemented by notebook brands on end retail prices, which weakened the order pull-in momentum of some channel operators. Additionally, urgent orders from the education market and strong pre-order-pull-in momentum in the previous month raised the comparison base for April.
These factors led to a combined sequential decline of approximately 33% for brand vendors in April 2026, performing worse than the historical average for April. Compared to the same period in 2025, since an emergency tariff exemption for notebooks shipped to the US was granted in late April 2025, notebook brands seized the window to step up shipments, which also contributed to the year-on-year decline in April 2026 shipments.
Introduction
DIGITIMES surveyed the global top five notebook brands (excluding Apple) and top three notebook ODMs' shipments in April 2026 (excluding detachable models). In April, with global channel retailers taking a break in re-stocking inventory, it led to a combined sequential shipment decline of 33% for the top five notebook brands. Compared to the same period in 2025, the shipments also decreased by nearly 3% year-on-year.
The significant sequential drop in overall notebook market shipments in April was due to seasonal factors as well as price hikes implemented by notebook brands on end retail prices, which weakened the order pull-in momentum of some channel operators. Additionally, urgent orders from the education market and strong pre-order-pull-in momentum in the previous month raised the comparison base for April.
These factors led to a combined sequential decline of approximately 33% for brand vendors in April 2026, performing worse than the historical average for April. Compared to the same period in 2025, since an emergency tariff exemption for notebooks shipped to the US was granted in late April 2025, notebook brands seized the window to step up shipments, which also contributed to the year-on-year decline in April 2026 shipments.
Among the top five notebook brands in April, Acer showed better shipment performance, with a sequential decline of about 15%. Compared to the same period in 2025, it increased by more than 40%, mainly because the supply of processors for Acer's mainstream models improved compared to the previous quarter, allowing some orders to resume shipments.
Regarding the top three ODMs, their combined notebook shipments in April decreased by about 30% sequentially. Among them, Wistron still performed the best; although Wistron's shipments decreased by more than 15% compared to the previous month, it was significantly better than the market average.
This was primarily because Wistron's shipments to its largest customer, Dell, decreased by less than 10%, offsetting the impact of declining shipments to other brand customers and resulting in a better overall shipment performance for Wistron.
(Note: DIGITIMES treats detachable notebook products as tablets. Convertible notebooks with undetachable keyboards are considered notebooks.)
Top-5 notebook brands
Chart 1: Worldwide top-5 brand notebook shipments, April 2025-2026 (m units)
*Note: Lenovo's shipments include those from its sub-brands: Medion, NEC, and Fujitsu.
Source: DIGITIMES, May 2026
April is a traditional off-season for European and US channel stocking. Affected by seasonality, the overall notebook market's shipment momentum was already weak. Coupled with the continuous rise in key component prices, notebook brands launched price hikes in the second quarter, lowering the willingness of some channel retailers to pull in orders and impacting April's shipment momentum. On the other hand, rush orders from the education sector surged in March 2026, and channel retailers actively pulling in orders before the price hikes, making March shipments significantly better than expected and raising the base for April.
These factors all caused a larger sequential decline in April shipments for notebook brands. The combined shipment volume of the top five notebook brands in April 2026 was approximately 9.99 million units, down over 33% sequentially, a decline larger than the historical average sequential drop of about 20%.
Compared to the same period in 2025, the overall shipment volume of the top five brands in April 2026 decreased by nearly 3%. This was mainly because the US unexpectedly announced a temporary tariff exemption for electronic products in April 2025, prompting notebook brands to leverage the late April window to actively stock up and boost shipment momentum, which caused the top five brands' shipment performance in April 2026 to fall short of the same period in 2025.
Looking back at May, to cope with a potential new wave of product price hikes in the second half of the year, channel operators maintained a certain level of advanced pull-in momentum. The combined shipment volume of the top five brands grew by 15% to 20% compared to April, which was equivalent to the average seasonal shipment level of previous years in May.
The top five notebook brand shipment rankings in April 2026 remained the same as the previous month. Lenovo maintained its position as the number one global notebook brand by shipment volume, but its shipments decreased by nearly 50% compared to the previous month, showing the weakest performance among the top five brands.
The large drop in Lenovo's shipments was mainly because education models in the previous month benefited from improved CPU supply and urgent order effects, leading to strong pull-in momentum and creating a high shipment base for April.
Compared to the same period in 2025, Lenovo's shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by about 15%, making it the weakest performer among the top five brands. The year-on-year decline in Lenovo's shipments was mainly because its primary European market was heavily impacted by the US-Iran war, resulting in shipment performance significantly inferior to 2025. Furthermore, shipments of Japanese brands under Lenovo also saw a significant year-on-year decline, causing Lenovo's overall shipment volume to fall short of the same period in 2025.
HP's shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by nearly 40% compared to the previous month, outperforming only Lenovo among the top five notebook brands. As April is traditionally a break time for stocking inventory for the European and US channel, and HP's shipments of education models like Chromebooks were also inferior to the previous month, these factors hindered HP's shipment growth.
Compared to the same period in 2025, HP's shipment volume in April 2026 also decreased by nearly 10%, outperforming only Lenovo among the top five brands. This was mainly due to a high shipment base caused by HP expanding promotions in major global markets to boost market share in April 2025. Additionally, HP's Chromebook models were hit by reduced demand, with shipments falling by more than 60% compared to the same period in 2025, causing its April 2026 performance to lag behind that of the same period in 2025.
Dell's shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by over 15% compared to the previous month, ranking second only to Acer among the top five brands. This was because the enterprise sector that Dell focuses on showed higher acceptance of end price hikes than the consumer sector, resulting in a smaller sequential decline for Dell compared to most notebook brands.
Compared to April 2025, Dell's shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by about 5%, performing better than Lenovo and HP but worse than Asustek and Acer among the top five brands. This was because although Dell's enterprise model shipments in April 2026 increased slightly compared to the same period in 2025, its consumer and education models experienced a larger decline due to end price hikes, causing Dell's overall shipment volume to fall short of the same period in 2025.
Asustek's notebook shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by over 15% compared to the previous month, performing better than HP and Lenovo but lagging behind Dell and Acer among the top five brands. In April, under conditions where the supply of key components was relatively sufficient, Asustek actively pursued market share in major and emerging markets. However, shipments of education models like Chromebooks slowed down significantly, dropping by over 30% compared to the previous month, though Asustek's overall sequential decline remained smaller than that of some notebook brands.
Compared to April 2025, Asustek's shipment volume in April 2026 grew by about 20%, ranking second only to Acer among the top five brands. This was mainly due to Asustek shifting to an aggressive shipment policy in the second quarter of 2026, with education models growing by over 20% year-on-year thanks to Japanese procurement orders. Meanwhile, weak stocking momentum in the North American channel during the same period in 2025 also caused Asustek's year-on-year shipment growth in April 2026 to exceed that of most brands.
Acer's shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by about 15% compared to the previous month, making it the best performer among the top five brands. This was primarily because mainstream processor shortages began to show clear improvement in the second quarter, allowing some affected models to resume shipments. However, constrained by price hikes and supply shortages of memory and storage devices, overall shipment momentum was still suppressed, causing Acer's overall April shipment performance to fall short of the previous month.
Compared to April 2025, Acer's shipment volume in April 2026 grew by over 40%, leading the top five brands as the best performer. This was mainly because Acer's shipments to the North American market in the same period of 2025 dropped significantly due to the implementation of US tariffs and insufficient non-China production capacity, creating a low shipment base for April 2026.
Top-3 notebook ODMs
Chart 2: Worldwide top-3 ODM notebook shipments, April 2025-2026 (m units)
Source: DIGITIMES, May 2026
The top three notebook ODMs, Quanta, Compal, and Wistron, saw their combined shipments hit approximately 6.95 million units in April, a sequential decline of about 30%, performing slightly better than the top five notebook brands' sequential drop of around 33%. This was mainly because Lenovo, which has a lower allocation of orders to Taiwanese ODMs, experienced a giant sequential drop in April shipments, while better-performing brands like Dell and Acer mostly outsource their models to the top three ODMs, helping the three firms achieve better combined shipment performance than the top five notebook brands.
Quanta's notebook shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by over 30% compared to the previous month, performing better than Compal but lagging behind Wistron among the top three ODMs. This was mainly due to the better April shipment performance of Taiwanese brands, and because the sequential shipment decline of Apple, one of Quanta's major customers, was also limited in April.
Compared to the same period in 2025, Quanta's shipment volume increased by 25%, leading the top three ODMs as the best performer. This was because Quanta's orders from Apple grew by nearly 90%, and orders from Acer grew by over 80%, causing Quanta's April 2026 shipment volume to outperform the same period in 2025.
Compal's notebook shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by over 35% compared to the previous month, making it the weakest performer among the top three ODMs. This was because Compal's shipments to its major customers all decreased by more than 25% compared to the previous month, with shipments to HP dropping by nearly 90%, resulting in a weaker shipment performance for Compal in April.
Compared to the same period in 2025, Compal's shipment volume decreased by over 30%, ranking as the weakest among the top three ODMs, mainly due to a larger decline in Compal's shipments to its major US customers.
Wistron's notebook shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by over 15% compared to the previous month, making it the best performer among the top three ODMs. This was mainly because Wistron's shipments from its largest customer, Dell, decreased by less than 10% month-on-month.
Compared to the same period in 2025, Wistron's shipment volume grew by over 15%, performing better than Compal but lagging behind Quanta among the three ODMs. This was because Wistron's orders from Dell increased by nearly 40%, although orders from HP and Lenovo decreased by about 10%, offsetting part of Wistron's shipment growth momentum.
For non-top-3 ODMs, Inventec's notebook shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by about 25% compared to the previous month, performing better than Quanta and Compal but lagging behind Wistron and Pegatron among the top five ODMs. This was because orders from its customers HP and Asustek both decreased by about 25% compared to the previous month.
Compared to the same period in 2025, Inventec's shipment volume increased by about 15%, outperforming only Compal among the top five ODMs, mainly because Inventec's shipment volumes for both HP and Asustek showed a year-on-year increase of about 15% in April 2026.
Pegatron's notebook shipment volume in April 2026 decreased by about 15% compared to the previous month, making it the best performer among the top five ODMs. This was mainly because its largest customer, Asustek, showed better overall shipment performance in April and maintained a flat order allocation ratio to Pegatron compared to the previous month, driving Pegatron's shipment performance ahead of most ODMs.
Compared to the same period in 2025, Pegatron's shipment volume increased by about 20%, ranking second only to Quanta among the top five ODMs, mainly due to a roughly 30% increase in orders from Asustek compared to April 2025.
In April 2026, the combined notebook shipment volume of the top three ODMs increased by nearly 5% compared to the same period in 2025. If Inventec and Pegatron are included, the combined notebook shipment volume of the top five ODMs in April 2026 increased by over 5% year-on-year, outperforming the top five brands' year-on-year decline of about 3%. This was mainly because the US customers, who are key clients for Taiwanese ODMs, showed relatively better shipment performance.
Among them, Apple's orders grew by over 50%. Additionally, Taiwanese brands with higher shipment growth rates, such as Acer and Asustek, reduced their allocation of orders and original design manufacturing models to Chinese ODMs. All these factors contributed to the top five ODMs outperforming the top five brands in shipment performance.
