Strategy Analytics: Dell grew notebook shipments 50% YoY in Q3 2021

2020 was a bumper year for PC manufacturers, due to the Work from Home movement, but the return to work push in 2021 and chip shortages led us to expect that the good times will be over for hardware companies.

Today Strategy Analytics reported that we could not be more wrong, as, despite the shortage of components and supply constraints, the notebook PC market delivered another great quarter with 8% year-over-year growth.

It appears premium products gained momentum due to commercial demand, while consumer spending also increased thanks to higher discounts on premium products like MacBook Air and gaming notebooks.

Chirag Upadhyay, Industry Analyst said, “The commercial customers’ upgrade kicked in as some employees returned to in-person work with the target to improve productivity. Education demand (including consumer) was better in the developed market as back to university discounts gave consumers good reason to upgrade now rather than later. It’s worth noting that the shortage of components and rising prices for manufacturing and freight costs also delayed some orders for many vendors. In other words, shipments could have been even higher.”

Eric Smith, Director – Connected Computing added, “Chromebook shipment year-over-year growth was down to single digits after many quarters of strong sales. The education demand slowed down in the US as most schools reopened for in-person learning and other spending took priority over computer purchases. A few vendors already had orders cancelled or delayed until new budget becomes available for computing devices again.”

Other notable points include:

• For the fourth quarter in a row Lenovo has dominated the market with a record in Notebook PC shipments (sell-in) of 15.3 million units in Q3 2021 (calendar year); this represented 5% growth from the 14.5 million shipped the year prior.

• HP maintained the second position in third quarter for Notebook PC, as shipments reached 14.3 million in Q3 2021 representing a -5% decline year-over-year; since the pandemic began, this was the first quarter where shipments declined year-over-year for the company

• In Q3 2021, Dell shipments grew to 12.2 million units at a 50% growth rate year-on-year; Dell maintained the third position globally but importantly gained 5.1 percentage points of market share over the last year’s quarter to reach 18.2%

• Apple MacOS business set an all-time record quarter in company history with shipments of more than 6.5 million MacBook in the September quarter, a 10% growth from Q3 2020

• Asus broke through to the top 5 ranks with improved shipments across commercial and consumer users; in Q3 2021, Asus shipments grew to 5.1 million units at a 10% growth rate year-on-year

The report goes on to note that uncertainty clouds the next several quarters as supply constraints increasingly catch up to top vendors.

The full report can be read here.

via the WC