The global top-5 notebook brands, not including Apple, saw their combined shipments plunge 29% on month and nearly halve from a year ago in January due to a slow channel inventory digestion and the fact that the market was in the transitional period before the brands will launch their new products and therefore reduced orders for their existing models, according to the latest figures from DIGITIMES Research's monthly notebook report.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) returned as the largest notebook brand in January since the US-based vendor had better inventory digestion than competitors. Dell was the second-largest with an on-month shipment increase thanks to its ramp-up of orders for some enterprise models.
Lenovo's January shipments plummeted sharply on month as the Chinese brand was seriously undermined by the high channel inventory in its key markets, the figures show.
Shipments of the top-3 ODMs together slipped 24% on month in January. Compal performed the best in the month as its largest client Dell placed increased orders, while its orders from Taiwan-based brands had remained steady.
