Q3 was best PC market growth quarter for five years

Author: EIS Release Date: Oct 21, 2020


Q3 PC shipments totaled 71.4 million units – a 3.6% increase from the third quarter of 2019, according to Gartner – the strongest quarterly growth in five years.


Consumer demand for PCs due to home entertainment and distance learning needs drove the market.
While Gartner does not include Chromebook shipments in its traditional PC market results, Chromebook shipments grew by approximately 90% in Q3 compared to a year ago.
This demand was driven by distance learning due to the pandemic, especially in the U.S. education market. Including Chromebooks, the total worldwide PC market grew around 9% year over year, with Chromebooks representing about 11% of the combined PC/Chromebook market.

The top three vendors in the traditional PC market remained unchanged from the previous quarter, although Lenovo widened its lead over HP after a quarter of record shipment volume. Consumer-oriented vendors such as Apple, Acer and Asus saw growth that outpaced the rest of the market in the third quarter of 2020 (see Table 1).
Table 1. Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q20 (Thousands of Units)
Company    3Q20 Shipments    3Q20 Market Share (%)    3Q19 Shipments    3Q19 Market Share (%)    3Q20-3Q19 Growth (%)
Lenovo    18,310    25.7    16,903    24.5    8.3
HP Inc.    15,447    21.6    15,335    22.3    0.7
Dell    10,827    15.2    11,343    16.5    -4.6
Apple    5,513    7.7    5,139    7.5    7.3
Acer Group    5,085    7.1    3,928    5.7    29.5
ASUS    4,747    6.7    4,206    6.1    12.9
Others    11,448    16.0    12,014    17.4    -4.7
Total    71,377    100.0    68,869    100.0    3.6
Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding. 
Source: Gartner (October 2020)
Lenovo maintained its No. 1 position in the worldwide PC market, with quarterly shipments rising to over 18 million units for the first time ever. Similar to other vendors, Lenovo experienced a decline in desktop shipments, but the decline was not as steep as those experienced by HP and Dell, as Lenovo’s desktop demand was supported by solid growth in China.
HP saw below-market growth as desktop shipments declined 30% year over year, resulting in a growth of just 0.7% in the third quarter of 2020. HP performed relatively well in the U.S. market where shipments grew faster than the regional average, but experienced challenges in Asia Pacific and Japan. HP also announced in August 2020 that the company had a strong backlog in notebooks due to continued supply chain constraints from the pandemic, which limited shipments for the quarter. HP had a strong focus on Chromebooks, remaining the top vendor in this segment.
Dell’s streak of 17 consecutive quarters of year over year growth ended this quarter with a 4.6% decline, reflecting its focus on business over consumer PCs. Dell’s mobile PC sales grew, but steep declines in desktop PC sales offset this growth. Dell’s decline is one indicator of cautious spending by business buyers as a reaction to the current weak economies in most developed nations.
Regional Overview
The U.S. market had a particularly strong quarter with 11.4% growth year over year, which is the first time in ten years that the region has seen double-digit growth. Robust mobile PC growth of 29% year over year was offset by a major decline in desktop PC sales.
HP secured the top spot in the U.S. PC market based on shipments with 30.8% market share. Dell followed with 25% of the U.S. PC market share (see Table 2).
Table 2. Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q20 (Thousands of Units)
Company    3Q20 Shipments    3Q20 Market Share (%)    3Q19 Shipments    3Q19 Market Share (%)    3Q20-3Q19 Growth (%)
HP Inc.    5,111    30.8    4,428    29.8    15.4
Dell    4,138    25.0    3,901    26.2    6.1
Lenovo    2,534    15.3    2,294    15.4    10.5
Apple    2,405    14.5    2,247    15.1    7.0
Acer Group    713    4.3    469    3,2    52.0
Others    1,670    10.1    1,531    10.3    9.1
Total    16,570    100.0    14,870    100.0    11.4
Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding.
Source: Gartner (October 2020)
The EMEA PC market remained relatively flat in the third quarter of 2020, with just 0.4% year over year growth to 19.5 million units. The EMEA market also saw strong consumer demand for PCs, led by sales of aggressively priced notebooks for children and students as well as high-end gaming machines to support the entertainment needs of families.
Asia Pacific showed a moderate growth of 3.3% year over year, but the region showed a strong quarter over quarter growth of 16.5%, indicating a consistent recovery after a significant decline earlier in 2020. Greater China continued to show strength as the region has largely recovered from the impact of COVID-19, with public and private sectors resuming their procurement that was postponed in the first quarter of the year.