PC pricing gets more competitive as Lenovo retains top spot

Manufacturers are dropping prices of many premium PCs, in a bid to grab greater marketshare, so says analyst IDC.

Jay Chou, senior research analyst, worldwide PC trackers, at IDC, said: “Pricing pressure is bringing many premium SKUs into formerly mid-level pricing tiers.

“As more vendors find it increasingly difficult to compete, we can expect additional consolidation in the PC market."

IDC also revealed that worldwide PC shipments totaled 68.5 million units in the first quarter of 2015, a year-on-year decline of 6.7 per cent.

Within EMEA, during the first quarter of 2015 vendors focused on reducing priced Bing inventory built up during Q4 2014.

However, according to IDC, due to the end of the Bing promotions, unfavourable currency exchange rates and an increase in prices of components all led to a rise in average selling prices and a decline in PC shipments.

Lenovo took the top spot during Q1 2015, holding 19.6 per cent of the market share, with 13,392 worldwide shipments.

Meanwhile, HP and Dell sold 12,992 and 9,236 worldwide shipments respectively.

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO at Lenovo, said: “This quarter and for the last two consecutive years, Lenovo again maintained the number one position in the worldwide PC market by demonstrating outstanding innovation in the PC product line. We are proud that we achieved industry-leading worldwide share of 19.6 per cent, highlighted by record market share in the US of 11.8 percent, up 1.1 pts year-over-year. 

"PCs remain at the heart of our business, delivering 65 per cent of our revenue and record pre-tax income last quarter of almost $500 million. Given industry consolidation, Lenovo’s consistent focus on innovation and delivering award-winning PCs, and our ongoing momentum, we are confident that PCs will continue to be a great engine of strong, profitable growth.”

Similarly, last week analyst Gartner revealed that PC shipments were down by 4.4 per cent in EMEA. PC shipments in EMEA totalled 21.7 million units in the first quarter of 2015, and HP took the number one position with strong notebook growth.