Chinese manufacturer Lenovo has overtaken US-based Hewlett-Packard as the largest global vendor

Chinese manufacturer Lenovo has overtaken US-based Hewlett-Packard as the largest global vendor of personal computers, according to a survey on Wednesday highlighting a struggling PC market.

The survey by the research firm Gartner showed Lenovo took over the top vendor spot for the first time with 15.7 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2012, edging HP with 15.5 percent.

Gartner pointed out that Lenovo has used “aggressive” pricing, especially in the professional market and has boosted its market share across all regions even as PC sales weaken.

Gartner said worldwide PC shipments totalled 87.5 million units in the quarter, a sharp decline of 8.3 percent from a year ago, as many retailers and consumers held back for the new Windows 8 PCs due in late October.

Gartner said Dell was the number three maker with a 10.5 percent global market share followed by Taiwan’s Acer with 9.8 percent and another Taiwan firm Asus with 7.3 percent.

In the US market, HP remained the largest maker, followed by Dell, Apple and Lenovo in that order.

A separate report showed global sales of personal computers are set to show a decline for the first time in 11 years.

The survey by IHS iSuppli said the total PC market in 2012 is expected to contract by 1.2 percent to 348.7 million units, down from 352.8 million in 2011.

That would be the first drop since 2001, but sales have been sluggish for the past two years.

Analysts say PCs have taken a back seat to tablets and smartphones in recent months.

IHS said last month that global sales of tablet computers are expected to surge to 126.6 million in 2012, driven by the iPad and rivals.

Some analysts say tablet sales will overtake that of PCs by 2016, or possibly earlier.

Hope Meg Whitman has some magic up her sleeve. There is no excuse for the decline, especially with the capital this company has.

Source AFP