Acer in 2009 came within a hair's breadth of supplanting Dell as the world's number two PC maker, as the Taiwan-based computer maker achieved leading growth among the world's top-five brands for the year, according to iSuppli. For the global PC market, in a surprisingly strong result, shipments managed to eke out marginal growth in 2009. Despite severe economic turmoil in 2009, PC shipments defied expectations to reach 302.3 million units, up 1% from 299.2 million in 2008.
Number three ranked Acer enjoyed a 21% expansion in 2009, with its global PC unit shipments rising to 38.5 million, up from 31.8 million in 2008. This represented the strongest growth among the world's top five PC makers in 2009.
In contrast, US-based Dell suffered a 9.9% drop, with its shipments declining to 38.96 million in 2009, down from 43.3 million in 2008. Dell was the only top five PC brand to post a decline in shipments for the year.
Due to these divergent performances, Dell ended 2009 with only a 0.2 percentage point lead over Acer, down from 3.8 points in 2008, allowing the US PC OEM to hold the second rank by only the sparest of margins.
"Acer's 2009 success was driven by the notebook PC market," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms research, for iSuppli. "Notebooks accounted for nearly 80% of Acer's shipments in 2009. This allowed the company to capitalize on the fast-growing mobile-computing segment while limiting its exposure to the moribund desktop segment."
Acer in 2009 achieved a 28% increase in shipments of notebook PCs for the year, compared to a 20% rise for the overall market. "Acer owes its strong notebook success to the fact that it is covering the key bases well, with a strong portfolio encompassing both regular laptops and netbooks," Wilkins said. Acer also managed to limit its losses in the desktop market. Company desktop shipments were flat in 2009, declining by a scant 0.1%, compared to a 15% drop for the entire market.
In contrast, Dell's desktop PC shipments fell at a greater rate than the overall desktop segment. Furthermore, its notebook shipments grew at a much lower rate than that of the overall market. Dell's share of the global PC market has dwindled in recent years, declining to 12.9% in 2009, down 4.2 points from 17.1% in 2005.
For the full-year 2009, four of the top five PC OEMs grew at rates higher than the overall industry. Number one ranked Hewlett-Packard (HP) grew by 7.4%, whereas number three Acer, number four Lenovo and number five Toshiba expanded by 21%, 14.2% and 13.7%, respectively. Only number two Dell suffered a decline in shipments for the year.
In a surprisingly strong result, the global PC market managed to eke out marginal growth in 2009. Despite severe economic turmoil in 2009, PC shipments defied expectations to reach 302.3 million units, up 1% from 299.2 million in 2008.
No change to top PC rankings in 4Q
The rankings of the top five PC makers remained the same in the fourth quarter compared to the third. HP retained its top ranking in the fourth quarter of 2009, with shipments of 17.2 million and a market share of 19.4%. While Acer was number three for the entire year, the company held the second position in the fourth quarter, with shipments of 11.9 million units and a market share of 13.4%. The company also took second place in the third quarter.
Dell held its third-place ranking in the fourth quarter with shipments of 10.8 million, giving the company a market share of 12.2%. Rounding out the top five were Lenovo and Toshiba, ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with market shares of 8.9% and 5.3%. Global PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 amounted to 88.8 million units, up 14.4% from 77.6 million units during the same period in 2008.
| iSuppli: 2009 worldwide Top-5 PC OEM market share ranking (k shipments) | ||||||
| 2009 ranking | Company | 2008 shipments | 2008 market share | 2009 shipments | 2009 market share | Y/Y |
| 1 | Hewlett-Packard | 55,515 | 18.6% | 59,620 | 19.7% | 7.4% |
| 2 | Dell | 43,262 | 14.5% | 38,959 | 12.9% | (9.9%) |
| 3 | Acer | 31,807 | 10.6% | 38,485 | 12.7% | 21.0% |
| 4 | Lenovo | 21,790 | 7.3% | 24,885 | 8.2% | 14.2% |
| 5 | Toshiba | 13,604 | 4.5% | 15,464 | 5.1% | 13.7% |
|
| Others | 133,228 | 44.5% | 124,926 | 41.3% | (6.2%) |
|
| Total shipments | 299,205 | 100.0% | 302,339 | 100.0% | 1.0% |
Source: iSuppli, March 2010
| iSuppli: 4Q 2009 worldwide Top-5 PC OEM market share ranking (k shipments) | ||||||
| 4Q 2009 ranking | Company | 4Q 2008 shipments | 4Q 2008 market share | 4Q 2009 shipments | 4Q 2009 market share | Y/Y |
| 1 | Hewlett-Packard | 14,493 | 18.7% | 17,235 | 19.4% | 18.9% |
| 2 | Acer | 9,201 | 11.9% | 11,864 | 13.4% | 28.9% |
| 3 | Dell | 10,286 | 13.2% | 10,830 | 12.2% | 5.3% |
| 4 | Lenovo | 5,500 | 7.1% | 7,870 | 8.9% | 43.1% |
| 5 | Toshiba | 3,675 | 4.7% | 4,668 | 5.3% | 27.0% |
|
| Others | 34,486 | 44.4% | 36,358 | 40.9% | 5.4% |
|
| Total shipments | 77,641 | 100.0% | 88,825 | 100.0% | 14.4% |
Source: iSuppli, March 2010
Article translated by Michael McManus
