Dell Reclaims Second Rank as Global PC Supplier, Acer Slides to Third Place

Dell may have lost its position as second greatest PC supplier to Acer some time ago, but it seems it has finally turned the tables and reclaimed it, according to iSupply, whose latest press release states that Acer's share fell enough during Q2 to cause it to slip back into third place.

HP has been the leading supplier of personal computers in the world for quite a while, during which time Acer has been continuously fighting with Dell over the latter's usual second place.

Dell managed to hold on to spot number 2 until about nine months ago, when Acer succeeded in besting it in terms of shipments.

Now, however, it would appear that the spots have again been reversed, with Dell once again claiming its place as second greatest supplier.

According to iSupply's press release, during the second quarter Acer's sales fell 6.2 percent and shipments slid to 10.2 million units, less than the 10.9 million of Q1.

This caused Acer's shares to decline from 13.3 percent to 12.4 percent. All these factors are noteworthy, considering that, overall, the global PC market itself actually rose during Q2.

Total PC shipments during Q2 were of 82.5 million, up 1.1 percent from the 81.6 million of Q1.

In these conditions, Dell's sales only dropped 1.2 percent, from 10.7 million to 10.5 million, leading to a 12.8 percent share of global shipments (compared to 13.1 % in the previous year).

“With its product line heavily focused on mobile PCs, Acer’s sequential decline in notebook shipments impacted its position at the total PC level more than its competitors, which were able to draw on the upswing in desktop shipments to bolster their total shipments,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms research, for iSuppli.

“The second-quarter results show the market-share battle between Dell and Acer is not over and that it will continue to rage,” Wilkins said.