Who Is Really the Biggest Laptop Brand?

Who sold the most laptops in the first quarter of 2010?

Good question, and one which no one can seem to answer. The laptop market’s two biggest brands, Hewlitt-Packard and Acer, were neck-and-neck in the first quarter of 2010.

According to the IDC, HP was number one, selling 9.5 million units. Acer took the number two spot with 8.65 million units. However, it appears that Gartner disagrees. Gartner states that Acer was number one with sales of 9.5 million units while HP was a very close second, selling 9.47 million units. It isn’t clear where the difference comes from, either, although Gartner states that Acer can thank its netbooks for the new sales lead.

Third place was taken by Dell, with 5.7 million units. Toshiba took fourth with 4.6 million units. ASUS knocked Lenovo out of fifth with 4.3 million units leaving Lenovo in sixth with 4.11 million. Apple was seventh with 1.72 million units and Sony was eight 1.68 million units.

Both HP and Acer sell because of price, but this also puts huge pressure on margins, so high sales figures don’t necessarily mean a healthy long-term business or quality product. Apple and Sony, in seventh and eighth, are great examples of this. The laptop divisions of both companies are very profitable despite the low sales numbers and both brands are well regarded.

Source: Digitimes