Global notebook shipments performed better than expected in the third quarter of 2023. After enjoying an over 20% sequential increase in the second quarter, the volumes went up further by 2.1% in the third, but the shipments will then slip 7.3% in the fourth quarter due to high channel inventory and a high comparison base in the third quarter, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest figures from the quarterly notebook report covering the second half of 2023.
The shipment growth in the third quarter was driven by brand vendors' keen digestion of consumer model inventory and robust order pull-ins from the retail channel for the year-end holiday season, helping to offset the shipment decline in the enterprise and education sectors.
Dell and Lenovo are expected to achieve better performances among the global top-6 brands in the fourth quarter. Lenovo, after becoming the largest notebook brand in the third quarter, will maintain its leading position in the fourth quarter, seeing only a minor sequential shipment decline, with its key markets Europe and China both recovering, the figures show.
Number-2 Hewlett-Packard (HP), which already went full throttle with its shipments in the third quarter for its fiscal 2023 goals, is expected to see its shipments plunge sharply in the fourth quarter.
Dell, in third place, is expected to become the only brand vendor to enjoy a sequential shipment increase in the fourth quarter as enterprises in some mature markets have begun the replacement of notebooks procured during the pandemic.
Fourth-position Apple upgraded its MacBook Pros with in-house developed M3 processors made via a 3nm process in the early fourth quarter, hoping to attract consumer demand. However, the US-based brand's related orders with its ODM partners did not show a significant rebound in the fourth quarter, hinting at the high-end consumer notebooks' feeble demand.
Shipments of Taiwan's major notebook ODMs had a drastic decline in the fourth quarter. Wistron and Inventec, which did not place their focus on consumer models, performed stronger than competitors.
