HP Passes Dell To Become The World's Largest PC SellerHP Passes Dell To Become The World's Largest PC Seller

Hewlett-Packard has passed Dell to become the world's largest PC seller, according to new figures from iSuppli.

HP shipped 9.9 million PCs globally in the third quarter of the year, up 16.7% from 8.4 million sold during the same period the year before, according to a report from iSuppli, an industry research organization. HP's latest numbers not only exceeded the 9.5% expansion of the overall PC market, but also surpassed the 3.4% and 10.4% global increases for HP's two closest rivals, Dell and Lenovo, iSuppli reported.

The strong numbers bolstered HP's market share, pushing it up to 16.5% from 13.6% in the second quarter. That puts HP slightly ahead of Dell by just two-tenths of a point.

"HP posted a memorable third quarter," says Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst with iSuppli. "Its sales grew by double-digit percentages both on a year-to-year and on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Due to this rapid sales growth, HP has once again become the world's largest PC maker, a position it hasn't held since 2003."

Dell didn't show the same kind of performance. Quarter-over-quarter, the company posted a 1.9% drop in shipments, going from 10 million units in the second quarter of 2006 to 9.8 million units in the third quarter, iSuppli reported. Year-over-year results were better, with third-quarter shipments in 2006 increasing by 3.4% compared to 2005. But even that represented only about one-third of the growth rate for the PC industry as a whole.

"HP's positive news is in part due to Dell's problems," says Wilkins.

Lenovo of China remained in third place in the market, with shipments of 4.47 million units. Lenovo's numbers are up 10.4% from 4 million in the third quarter of 2005. Lenovo's unit market share rose to 7.5%, up from 7.4% during the third quarter of 2005.

Taiwan's Acer, according to iSuppli, saw the strongest market growth of the top five PC sellers. And that growth—a 29% year-over-year shipment increase—kept Acer in the No. 4 spot in the market.

Toshiba of Japan also delivered solid unit growth of 24%, and as a result gained entry into the top-five ranking in the third quarter with shipments of 2.5 million units, according to iSuppli. That's a bump from the company's sixth-place ranking in the second quarter of the year.

"As we look to the fourth quarter, iSuppli believes that we'll see strong demand in keeping with the holiday season," says Wilkins. "Notebook sales will continue their strong momentum. Recent history has shown that aggressive price cuts among PC makers boost sales during the holiday season. We expect this year to be no different."