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Acer overcomes Lenovo as no. 3 PC OEM, nips at Dell’s heels for no. 2 spot
Acer sees more than 30% shipment growth in 2007, securely replacing Lenovo as the third place PC OEM. Analysts suggest Dell will be the Taiwan-based company’s next target.
By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 3/6/2008
Acer has secured its position as the number three PC OEM, edging out Lenovo, and is now nipping on the heels of number two Dell.
According to two separate research houses, Acer in 2007 saw year-over-year shipment growth above the 30% mark, with iSuppli reporting 33.1% growth and DisplaySearch reporting 32% growth. With the shipment increases, Taiwan-based Acer has pulled ahead of China-based Lenovo in PC market share for the first full year, a climb in ranking the OEM had been working toward for several quarters now.
To do so, Acer has enacted a global acquisition strategy, buying Gateway for a foothold in the US PC market and snatching up Packard Bell, a leading European PC vendor Lenovo had expressed interest in acquiring.
Acer was also credited by iSuppli and DisplaySearch as taking the third place spot in Q4 2007, backing earlier shipment estimates from Gartner and IDC.
Indeed, it was Q4 that put Acer over the top. According to iSuppli, Acer shipped 7.2 million PCs in the quarter, which saw the Gateway acquisition incorporated and continued to see a hold on the Packard Bell acquisition as it is still awaiting approval by European regulatory bodies. That Q4 growth represented year-over-year growth of 25% on a combined basis. Lenovo, meanwhile, shipped 5.8 million units, and in the process achieved a year-over-year growth rate of 21.3%, according to the market research firm.
“Of particular note is that Acer, which had been a distant third to Dell, dramatically narrowed the gap to its rival excluding its acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell and overtook Dell when these acquisitions are included,” the DisplaySearch research noted, seconding iSuppli’s data. “In Q4 2005 and Q4 2006, the volume gap between Acer and Dell was more than 1 million units. In Q4 2007, that gap dropped to less than 100,000 units. When Acer’s acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell are added to the equation, Acer passed Dell by more than 600,000 units.”
But Dell is not done for yet. According to iSuppli, Dell turned a corner in Q4 with shipments of 11.3 million units, up 17.4% over the same quarter in 2006. That compares to 1.5% growth during Q3. Dell’s shipments were up 14.1%, the firm’s data further showed.
“The upswing in year-over growth compared to the prior quarter and the strong sequential rise in shipments come as encouraging signs of recovery for Dell,” Wilkins said.
Dell had been displaced by Hewlett-Packard as the world’s leading PC brand in mid 2006.
iSuppli preliminary 2007 worldwide PC shipment ranking in thousands of units
| Rank | Company | 2007 shipments | 2006 shipments | 2007 market share | Y/Y growth |
| 1 | HP | 49,571 | 38,222 | 18.5% | 29.7% |
| 2 | Dell | 39,690 | 39,009 | 14.8% | 1.7% |
| 3 | Acer* | 24,361 | 18,308 | 9.1% | 33.1% |
| 4 | Lenovo | 20,108 | 16,597 | 7.5% | 21.2% |
| 5 | Toshiba | 11,140 | 9,091 | 4.2% | 22.5% |
| Others | 123,502 | 117,484 | 46% | 5.1% | |
| Total | 268,371 | 238,711 | 100% | 12.4% |
Source: iSuppli, March 2008
*Acer shipments incorporate those from Gateway
DisplaySearch brand notebook PC shipments ranking in millions of units
| Brand | Q4 2006 shipments | Q4 2007 shipments | Y/Y change | Q4 2007 market share |
| HP | 4.69 | 6.66 | 42% | 20.1% |
| Acer | 3.11 | 5.25 | 32% | 15.9% |
| Dell | 3.52 | 4.64 | 32% | 14% |
| Toshiba | 2.3 | 2.86 | 24% | 8.6% |
| Lenovo | 1.98 | 2.73 | 38% | 8.2% |
| Fujitsu-Siemens | 1.25 | 1.62 | 30% | 4.9% |
| Sony | 1.18 | 1.59 | 35% | 4.8% |
| Asus | 1.04 | 1.56 | 50% | 4.7% |
| Apple | 0.969 | 1.34 | 38% | 4.1% |
| Others | 3.4 | 5.5 | 64% | 16.8% |
| Total | 20.41 | 33.09 | 41% | 100% |
