HP May Lose to Lenovo Any Quarter Now

It was already known that Lenovo had secured the second spot on the worldwide PC market, overcoming Dell and going up and up until the difference in market share with the holder of the top spot was of under 5%.

There is progress and there is fast progress, and then there is Lenovo, a company that earned the title of HP's most serious challenger of the past few years.

During the third quarter of 2011, it shipped 12.5 million units, or 14.5% more than in Q2, which put it 4.2% behind HP.

This is no small matter, particularly as Lenovo was only ranked number 4 in the first quarter of 2011.

“Lenovo continues to capitalize on strong demand for PCs in its home market of China,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research for IHS.

“While PC sales in the United States, Europe and many other regions are suffering because of weak economic conditions and rising competition from media tablets, desktop and notebook sales remain red hot in China. This is allowing Lenovo to outgrow it U.S. rivals—and putting it in position to contend with HP for market leadership.”

Meanwhile, HP decided to back out of the PC market entirely, then it reconsidered (after changing its CEO) and said it wasn't going anywhere.

Still, since Meg Whiteman, the current leader, said 2012 would be a time of readjustment, Lenovo may very well overcome it.

As for the market as a whole, it at least, saw a positive evolution, though this may not last.

“While third-quarter PC shipments came in lower than our predictions, the attainment of any growth at all represents a victory for the market,” Wilkins said.

“This increase in sales comes at a time of weak consumer sales and a strong challenge from alternative platforms—specifically the media tablets. In this environment, all growth is progress.”