Lenovo dethrones HP as worlds No.1 PC maker

Chinese PC manufacturer has finally dethroned Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the worlds largest PC manufacturer, even as PC sales globally struggled.

HP has given up the top PC vendor position for the first time since the third quarter of 2006. HP is currently restructuring its device business, including PCs, tablets and printers.

Lenovo increased its market share to 15.7% in the third quarter of 2012, ahead of HP's global PC share of 15.5%, said the Gartner based on preliminary data.

In addition to acquiring other vendors, Lenovo has also taken an aggressive position on pricing, especially in the professional market. As a result, Lenovo has achieved significant market share gains over the last two years, exceeding regional average growth rates across all regions, said the analyst firm.

"A continuing slowdown in consumer PC shipments played a big part in the overall PC market decline. The third quarter was also a transitional quarter before Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system release, so shipments were less vigorous as vendors and their channel partners liquidated inventory,"  said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

However, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker for the third quarter, Lenovo continues to be the second largest PC maker, though with a smaller gap with HP. For the quarter HP' share was 15.9%, and Lenovo managed to grow its share by 10% to touch 15.7%.  

In a statement  Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang said: "Analyst figures released today reaffirm that Lenovo has continued momentum in the marketplace and that our formula for success-- a clear strategy, innovative products, great execution and a strong, diverse global team-- continues to work.  We know the PC market is highly competitive, but also firmly believe there is room for continued profitable growth in this space. Becoming the clear leader in global PC share of course remains one of Lenovo's aspirations, but it also only represents one more milestone in our journey as a company and our mission to become the leader in the PC+ era.  This includes PCs, tablets, smart phone, smart TV, cloud and enterprise computing.  Our goal is to make Lenovo not only a leading PC+ brand, but also one of the most respected companies in the world."