Laptop Shipments Surpass Desktops in the U.S.

“The third quarter of 2008 (3Q08) saw laptop shipments into the U.S. market surpass 50% share, topping quarterly desktop PC shipments for the first time in the history of the industry,” preliminary data from IDC’s U.S. Quarterly PC Tracker says.

According to the market researcher, the share of notebooks shipped in the U.S. in 3Q08 stood at a solid 55.2%. IDC reports that PC vendors shipped over 9.5 million laptops in the quarter, which is more than 18% growth both year over year and on a sequential basis.

“Almost all the leading vendors with desktop and notebook offerings shipped greater notebook volumes in the quarter. Some vendors such as Toshiba have long focused exclusively on notebooks. Others, including Sony, Acer, and Lenovo exceeded the 65% notebook ratio within their own PC client shipment base. Attracted by the opportunities of an expanded multi-PC-per user base, new notebook-focused vendors are making their way into the U.S. market, including Asus and Samsung. The potentially expanding mid-tier vendor base is likely to further increase competition among well-known brands, with the potential for lower prices to stimulate demand and keep unit growth in positive territory,” IDC explains.

David Daoud, research manager at IDC says that “virtually every buyer considers PCs as must-have products and not a secondary wish-list items”.

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