According to Strategy Analytics’ newest report, the notebook market shrank by only -2% year-on-year in Q1 2020. Even bigger challenges lie ahead as depressed consumer demand spreads across the world in Q2, leaving top notebook vendors in a precarious situation.
The full report from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices (CCD) service, Preliminary Global Notebook PC Shipments and Market Share: Q1 2020 Results can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/devices/tablets-and-pcs/connected-computing-devices/market-data/report-detail/preliminary-global-notebook-pc-shipments-and-market-share-q1-2020-results-070520
Chirag Upadhyay, Senior Research Analyst added, “Notebook vendors with a heavy reliance on China for its supply chain and those which did not have high levels of inventory before the COVID-19 outbreak had most difficulty in Q1 on a global basis. From a consumer demand standpoint, the vendors which are most reliant on the Chinese domestic market experienced the biggest downturns. All of that aside, the notebook market only shrank -2% year-on-year and compared to most other consumer electronics segments, this should be considered a success in a very tough environment.”
Eric Smith, Director – Connected Computing said, “We expect that as COVID-19 spreads globally in Q2, large corporations and educational institutions will place more orders for notebooks to support work/learn-from-home initiatives around the world. As more families are stuck in their homes during quarantine orders, there are too few productivity devices for all members of a household to get their work done. Consumer demand will be soft as average people face economic hardship, but commercial demand could balance out that softness.”
Exhibit 1: Notebook Market Beat Gloomy Expectations in Q1 20201
Global Notebook PC Shipments by Vendor
(Preliminary Results, Millions of Units)
| Vendor | Q1 ’20 | Q1 ’19 | Quarterly Growth Y/Y |
| Lenovo | 8.9 | 8.8 | 1% |
| HP | 8.1 | 8.2 | -1% |
| Dell | 6.9 | 6.5 | 5% |
| Apple | 3.0 | 3.6 | -16% |
| Asus | 2.5 | 3.0 | -15% |
| Others | 8.5 | 8.6 | -1% |
| Totals | 37.9 | 38.6 | -2% |
Global Notebook PC Market Share by Vendor
(Preliminary Results, % of Total Shipments)
| Vendor | Q1 ’20 | Q1 ’19 |
| Lenovo | 23.5% | 22.8% |
| HP | 21.3% | 21.2% |
| Dell | 18.2% | 16.9% |
| Apple | 8.0% | 9.3% |
| Asus | 6.6% | 7.6% |
| Others | 22.5% | 22.2% |
| Totals | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Source: Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices service
1 All figures are rounded