Dell Loses PC-Shipment Race, Second Place in PC Market Taken by Acer

After it saw shipment increases of 32% starting with Q2 2009, Acer's market share rose from 12% to 13.4%. Following Dell's market decline to as low as 12.9%, Acer officially became the No. 2 ranking PC supplier in the world. This was possible thanks to Acer's large increase in PC shipments during this year's third quarter, reaching 10.7 million units, marking an increase of 16.6% compared to the previous year.

"Acer's rise to the No.-2 rank in the global PC business reflects not only its strong performance in the notebook segment, but also the historic rise of Asia as a primary force in the computer industry," iSuppli analyst Matthew Wilkins says.

Acer managed to best the former second-place holder thanks to its marketing strategy, which paid more attention to low-end (and accordingly priced) laptops, whether netbooks or notebooks, which sold very well in the US and in Europe. This marketing performance allowed Acer to thrive even under the conditions of the economic crisis. Acer's success is mirrored by the Chinese company Lenovo, which currently holds the fourth place. Both were known to hold only the sixth and eighth places, respectively, back in 2003, but now they have gained a strong foothold in the top 5.

"The Asian manufacturers are a growing force in the global PC business due to their aggressive pricing along with their ability to quickly react and embrace new developments, such as the netbook PC," Wilkins adds.

Lenovo's shipments grew by 17.2% in Q3 2009, compared with those in Q3 2008, marking the largest increase among the top five. Dell's shipments, on the other hand, saw an overall decline to 10.3 million units, marking a fall of 5.9%, while Hewlett-Packard managed to maintain the leading position for the 13th consecutive quarter. Unlike Dell, HP's shipments also grew, by 7% to be exact, reaching 15.9 million sold units (19.9% of the market share). Toshiba was ranked number five, with a total of four million sold units.

According to iSupply, the fourth quarter will boast an equally strong PC market, especially thanks to the holiday shopping season, and the total PC market-decline forecast is now set to 0.9%, compared with the former 4% prediction.