Lenovo wins record market share thanks to strong PC sales
The company saw a record high in sales and market share despite an ongoing downturn for the overall PC industry.
Lenovo seems to one of the few PC vendors thriving in a weak market.
For its fiscal second quarter that ended September 30, the Hong Kong-based company scooped up record sales of $8.7 billion, a jump of 11 percent from the prior year's quarter. PC shipments rose 10.3 percent, a healthy gain given that shipments for the overall industry fell more than 8 percent.
Based on data from IDC, Lenovo now holds 15.7 percent of the global PC market, its highest market share ever. It's also hot on the heels of No. 1 Hewlett-Packard, which grabbed a market share of 15.9 percent last quarter. Another solid quarter, and Lenovo will easily steal the top spot away from Hewlett-Packard.
The company is now the world's biggest laptop vendor, with second-quarter shipments rising 11.3 percent from last year. At the same time, its desktop shipments increased 8.8 percent, compared with a 9 percent drop for the overall industry.
Lenovo brought home a net profit of $162 million in the second quarter, a rise of 13 percent from $144 million a year ago. Earnings also beat analysts' estimates of $154.6 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In the face of a sluggish PC market, the company has been moving forward in the mobile arena.
For its second quarter, it took in consolidated sales of $718 million in its mobile group, a 155 percent jump from last year. A recent IDC report ranked Lenovo fifth among the top five global tablet vendors with a market share of 1.4 percent.
"Our global PC market share reached another historic high, moving us closer to our dream of becoming the worldwide PC leader," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said in a statement.