Strategy Analytics: Apple and Lenovo Vie for Mobile Computing Leadership

On the back of a robust commercial refresh cycle for Windows PCs, the Notebook market helped offset a decline in the Tablet market in Q2 2019. Strategy Analytics reported that Lenovo and Apple combined to take over a one-third share of this market, as Lenovo’s extensive portfolio helped in targeting more commercial clients across all regions during the Windows upgrade cycle and Apple pivoted to capture a more significant share of computing device purchases with more keyboard functionality across its product line and the new iPad OS.

In this highly competitive market, the global mobile computing device market stayed flat year-on-year in Q2 2019 at 80.1 million units shipped.

The full reports from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices (CCD) service, Total Tablet Vendor & OS, Unit & Value Market Share by Region: Q2 2019 Results, and Total Notebook PC Vendor Unit & Value Market Share by Region: Q2 2019 Results can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/devices/tablets-and-pcs/connected-computing-devices/market-data/report-detail/total-tablet-vendor-os-unit-value-market-share-by-region-q2-2019-results-030919
https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/devices/tablets-and-pcs/connected-computing-devices/market-data/report-detail/Total-notebook-pc-vendor-unit-value-market-share-by-region-q2-2019

The lines between tablet and notebooks are blurring more every day, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a mixture of tablet-heavy vendors like Apple and Samsung in the top 5 alongside PC-heavy vendors like Lenovo, HP, and Dell. Thin-and-light laptops were the most popular segment for the second quarter across commercial clients whether its small, medium or large business groups, while basic slate tablets connect best with consumers as screen sizes grow to accommodate better gaming and video streaming experiences.

Chirag Upadhyay, Senior Research Analyst said, “Vendors must prepare their strategies for next year before the Windows upgrade demand slows down. The consumer’s focus will be vital from next year in a competitive environment as prices will heat up the race among top vendors. Vendor strategies must be focused on multiple price tiers rather than concentrating on the premium segment, especially as Apple expands its strategy to replace Windows notebook demand with more computer-like iPads.”

Eric Smith, Director – Connected Computing added, “The mobile computing market is consolidating to a smaller group of large players. Smaller players are beginning to find their niches, such as Asus and Acer in the gaming and Chromebook segments. Amazon sits nicely in the low-end Android tablet segment with one of the freshest portfolios on top of an aggressive pricing strategy to fuel growth in services. We believe demand is still out there for mobile computing devices, but it’s up to each OEM to meet fast-changing use case demands for specific users, such as content creators, gamers, and first-time buyers.”

Exhibit 1: Apple and Lenovo captured 36% of the mobile computing market ¹

¹ All figures are rounded

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