TrendForce has reported that the global notebook shipments for 2017 registered 164.7 million units, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, higher than the previous expectation of 0.7%. Kou-Han Tseng, TrendForce notebook analyst, said:
“The global notebook market has benefited from biddings for notebook contracts in North America and regional economic recovery”.
In the second half of 2017, the market leader HP showed considerable growth, driving the overall performance of notebook shipments beyond previous expectations. For 2018, the market share of the top six brands is expected to rise to 89.1%, squeezing the room for other brands to develop. On the other hand, Xiaomi and Huawei recorded growth in the Chinese market, but the results of their overseas deployment are not yet clear.
HP has demonstrated its ambition since the second quarter and recorded new shipment highs in the second half of 2017. Its annual shipments hit a new milestone of 40 million units, a substantial increase of 10.5% over 2016. With a market share of 24.3%, HP has retained first place in the shipment ranking
Lenovo’s laptop shipments witnessed a year-on-year drop of 4.9%. It enhanced its sales in Asia and Europe, but still couldn’t make up the shipment decrease seen in the first half of 2017. This has had an impact on the brand’s performance. Its market share dropped to 20.2%, ranking second for the year.
Contract bids for notebooks and growth in its Chromebook shipments allowed Dell to increase its annual global shipments by 0.5%. It remained in third place in the global ranking with a market share of 15.2%
The updated MacBook Pro, released in the second quarter of 2017 helped Apple expand shipments by 18% for the whole year, the highest growth rate among all the notebook brands. The market share of Apple reached 9.6%, 1.3 percentage points up from 2016, which allowed Apple to surpass Asus and rank fourth.
Asus has adjusted its product strategy in recent years and shrunk the production of models with low profits. Hence, the brand’s shipments are influenced and its market share dropped to 9.5%, ranking fifth.
Acer continues to expand aggressively in the Chromebook market, and its notebook shipments growth in North American market raised its annual shipments by 0.6%. Its market share was recorded at 8%.
Trendforce Notebook suppliers chart (Click for higher resolution)
