Acer, Asustek maintain ranking among world's top 10 PC vendors

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Two Taiwanese PC makers, Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc., were again ranked in the top 10 worldwide in terms of shipments, although their market shares declined slightly in 2019, according to global market information advisory firm Gartner.

Gartner data showed that Acer maintained its place at fifth on the list, with shipments of 14.76 million PCs in 2019, although that number represented a 6.1 percent annual decline and the company's global market share fell to 5.7 percent from 6.1 percent the previous year.

Meanwhile, Asustek retained its ranking as the world's sixth largest PC vendor in 2019, despite an annual drop in its global market share from 5.9 percent to 5.5 percent and a 6.2 percent annual decline in shipments to 14.48 million units, the data showed.

Globally, PC shipments rose 0.6 percent in 2019 from a year earlier to 261.24 million units, returning to growth for the first time in seven years, according to Gartner.

"Geographically, Japan's annual growth led the overall market's growth," Gartner senior principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said.

"As for vendor performance, the top three vendors grew faster than the market itself, gaining a combined market share of 63.1 percent in 2019 compared with 60.2 percent in 2018," the analyst said. "Their focus on the business market and more favorable allocations within the current CPU (central processing unit) constraints served them well throughout the year."

Among the top three PC brands in the world, China's Lenovo Group Ltd. took the No. 1 spot with shipments of 62.97 million units in 2019, up 8.1 percent from a year earlier, and a market share of 24.1 percent.

U.S.-based HP Inc. was second with shipments of 57.92 million PCs, an annual increase of 3.0 percent, and it held a market share of 22.2 percent.

In third place, Dell Inc. of the U.S. recorded shipments of 43.96 million PCs, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 16.8 percent of global shipments.

Apple Inc. was at No. 4, although its shipments dropped by an annual 0.9 percent to 18.35 million units, and its global market share was 7.0 percent, the data showed.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, global PC shipments rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 70.61 million units, Gartner said.

Asustek was in fifth place with shipments of 4.06 million PCs in the October-December period, down 0.9 percent from a year earlier, and a global market share of 5.8 percent.

One spot below, Acer shipped 3.99 million units, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, and held a 5.7 percent share of the market, the data showed.

Lenovo, HP, Dell and Apple were ranked as the top four brands, with a market share of 24.8 percent, 22.8 percent, 17.2 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter, the data indicated.

"We expect this (worldwide) growth to continue through this year even after Windows 7 support comes to an end this month, as many businesses in emerging regions such as China, Eurasia and the emerging Asia/Pacific have not yet upgraded," Kitagawa said.