Samsung sees big gains in laptop market thanks to netbooks

Posted on Wednesday, July 07 2010 @ 21:56 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
iSuppli has published a preliminary report on Q1 2010 notebook marketshare. One of the biggest trends in the quarter was that Samsung displaced Apple and Sony to end up at the seventh spot in the chart, thanks to strong sales of its netbooks.
Boosted by the success of its netbook products, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the first quarter dramatically outperformed the mobile computer market, allowing it to rise to seventh place in the notebook PC business, up from ninth in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to iSuppli Corp.

Samsung in the first quarter shipped 1.9 million mobile PCs, up 14.6 percent from 1.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. This contrasted dramatically with the performance of the overall notebook PC market, with shipments in the first quarter declining by 5.4 percent sequentially due to normal seasonal factors. The company in the first quarter held a 3.9 percent share of global notebook PC shipments, up from 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Samsung posted the second-best sequential shipment performance among the Top 10 notebook PC makers in the first quarter, next only to Fujitsu Ltd., which had the biggest quarterly increase at 17.6 percent but placed 10th overall in the rankings.

“About 50 percent of Samsung’s mobile PC shipments in the first quarter were netbooks,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli. “Samsung’s netbooks are enjoying strong sales to European telecommunications operators, as European consumers in the first quarter continued to snap up netbook PCs bundled with mobile broadband contracts.”

Samsung also now is selling mobile PCs in the United States, opening up a huge new market opportunity for the South Korean electronics giant, Wilkins added.

In its rise up to the No. 7 rank in the first quarter, Samsung displaced Apple Inc. and Sony Corp. from the seventh and eighth spots they held in the fourth quarter. However, Apple and Samsung remain very close in the rankings, with only 130,000 units separating the two companies.

Samsung in the first quarter of 2010 also outperformed the mobile PC market compared to the same period in 2009. The company’s notebook shipments nearly doubled from 985,000 in the first quarter of 2009, rising by 95.5 percent. In contrast, total global mobile PC shipments rose by a much more modest—but still incredibly robust—42.4 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier.

“Corporate and consumer demand for notebook PCs remains strong, as user preferences continue to shift away from desktops and toward mobile computers,” Wilkins said. “Notebook shipments in the first quarter hit their second-highest quarterly level since iSuppli began tracking the market.

The near-record-setting growth in the first quarter presages what is expected to be a strong 2010 for the notebook PC market. iSuppli in the second quarter raised its 2010 forecast of notebook PC unit shipment growth to 29.8 percent, up from its first-quarter outlook of a 25.5 percent expansion for the year.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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