HP, Lenovo Hold Top Spots in Q3 Report on Most Popular Notebook Brands

While PC sales in general have been in the doldrums for years, market research firm TrendForce observed that third-quarter notebook sales were fairly lively. Overall, it was a good period for the notebook market, due in large part to buyers continuing to find good values in HP’s notebook lineup, renewed interest in Lenovo products and a rebounded European economy. TrendForce found that HP once again held its ground as the leading notebook vendor, while Lenovo, Dell and Apple weren’t far behind. Better yet, notebook sales appear to be on pace to be even stronger in the fourth quarter. This slide show delves into TrendForce’s study and why notebook makers did so well during the third quarter.

HP landed atop the worldwide notebook market in the third quarter, capturing 25.8 percent market share on 11 million units shipped. The company’s notebook shipments jumped by 17.6 percent from the previous quarter, according to TrendForce.

At 20.1 percent market share, Lenovo was the second-most-popular notebook maker during the third quarter. Lenovo shipped a total of 8.6 million notebooks during the period, which was up 6.5 percent compared to this year’s second quarter.

Dell secured the third spot in the TrendForce study with 15.6 percent market share and nearly 6.7 million units shipped during the period. However, while Dell’s shipments jumped 1.4 percent quarter over quarter, its market share slipped from 16.4 percent in the second quarter.

Apple’s notebook shipments soared in the third quarter, rising 11.3 percent to 4.4 million units shipped, according to TrendForce. Apple’s 10.4 percent market share topped the company’s 10 percent share in the second quarter.

Asus was able to hang tough in the notebook market, despite shipments falling 4.3 percent quarter over quarter to 3.8 million units. That decline only allowed Asus to muster 8.9 percent market share during the period, good for fifth place in the TrendForce study.

Acer rounded out the top six notebook makers with 7.7 percent market share during the period. According to TrendForce, Acer shipped 3.3 million units, which was actually up 2.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2017.

In addition to vendor performance, TrendForce examined how the broader notebook market fared during the third quarter. The company found that a total of 42.7 million notebooks shipped during the period, representing a 6.8 percent jump compared to the 40 million units shipped in the second quarter.

In a deeper dive into specific vendors, TrendForce found that HP hit the 11 million units sold mark for the first time in the third quarter. HP is expected to stay above that threshold in the fourth quarter and could ship more than 40 million notebook units in 2017, making it the most popular vendor of the year.

While Lenovo had a rough start to the year, the company has come on strong in the second half, TrendForce found. Lenovo has done a good job of attracting customers to its existing line of devices and has benefited from a rebounding European economy. It could grow shipments by as much as 3 percent in the fourth quarter, according to TrendForce.

During the third quarter, Apple did a fine job of promoting—and selling—its MacBook Pro, TrendForce data showed. Apple also saw success with other MacBook products, but the Pro version was its clear leader.