Chinese PC maker Lenovo has taken over the top spot among computer companies from US tech giant HP, according to preliminary third-quarter sales estimates released Wednesday by research firm Gartner. The research company said that Lenovo's sales had increased 10 per cent from the year-earlier quarter to 13.67 million units for a market share of 15.7 per cent. HP sales shrank 16 per cent to 13.55 million units for a market share of 15.5 per cent.
HP had held the top spot since 2006. Together with Taiwanese company Asus, Lenovo was the only top five computer maker to see sales grow in what analyst Mikako Kitagawa described as a "transitional quarter" ahead of the introduction of Windows 8. Dell was in third place with 9.2 million computers shipped, followed by Acer (8.6 million units shipped) and Asus (6.4 million units shipped). Total shipments fell by 8.3 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2011. The biggest decline of 13.8 per cent came in the US. Europe and the Middle East saw sales fall by 8.7 per cent, and Asia-Pacific saw shipments shrink by 5.6 per cent. Latin American sales were down 6.2 per cent and sales in Japan dropped 5.4 per cent.