Acer replaces Asustek as No. 5 PC brand in Q1: Gartner

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) Taiwan-based PC vendor Acer Inc. replaced its Taiwanese counterpart Asustek Computer Inc. to rank fifth worldwide in PC shipments in the first quarter of 2025, according to international market advisory firm Gartner.

In a research report released earlier this week, Gartner said Acer shipped 3.85 million PCs in the January-March period to secure a 6.5 percent share of the global market, beating the 6.3 percent share held by Asustek, which shipped 3.72 million units during the quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, Acer grabbed a 6.4 percent share in the global market, trailing Asustek's 7.4 percent, according to Gartner.

Though Acer saw its market share improve from a quarter earlier, its first quarter shipments grew only 1.9 percent year-over-year, the lowest among the top six vendors, while Asustek's shipments grew 9.1 percent, Gartner's data showed.

Global PC shipments totaled 58.95 units in the first quarter, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier, while shipments in the U.S. rose 12.6 percent to 16 million units, as vendors built up inventories amid concerns over tariff hikes by the Trump administration.

In Japan, Gartner said, strong business PC demand driven by Windows 11 replacements, coupled with the adoption of Chromebooks, pushed up shipments by 15.6 percent from a year earlier.

"The growth in the PC market in the first quarter of 2025 was driven by the surge in shipments in two key markets, the U.S. and Japan, but for different underlying reasons," said Gartner Research Principle Rishi Padhi in the report.

"Despite this increase and the subsequent strong topline growth, underlying end-user demand remained cautious, even with the added boost from enterprises upgrading PCs for Windows 11," Padhi said.

The top four PC vendors in the first quarter of 2025 were the same as in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Gartner.

China's Lenovo Group Ltd. took the top spot after shipping 15.28 million units in the first quarter, up 9.6 percent from a year earlier, to take a 25.9 percent share of the global market.

U.S.-based HP Inc. came in second with shipments of 12.76 million units, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier, with a market share of 21.6 percent.

Another American brand, Dell Inc., saw its shipments rise 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 9.62 million units, giving it a 16.3 percent share, while Apple Inc. took fourth place with a 10.1 percent share on shipments of 5.93 million PCs.