Lenovo close to overtaking HP as world's top PC maker

Analysts claim there could be a new leader in the PC market, with the possibility of Lenovo overtaking Hewlett-Packard's top spot before the end of the year. If it does happen, it would be the first Chinese PC maker company to take the top place in any global technology sector. Last year, Lenovo PC sales overtook Dell sales in the third quarter, moving its way up to the number two spot globally with a 14.9 percent market share—just a mere 0.6 percent short of HP's market share.

Despite inching toward number one, analysts are saying that the Lenovo's fast growing market share has come at the expense of profit margins. The slump in market growth for personal computers combined with tougher competition in the tablet sector are a couple of the biggest challenges Lenovo is facing. PC shipments slowed down during this year's second quarter in response to the wait for the release of Windows 8 scheduled to come out in October.

Lenovo should benefit from the increase in PC sales if Windows 8 encourages more demand, but an added drawback to the up and coming OS release is that it's designed for both tablets and computers. Along with other Android vendors, still competition stemming from the Windows tablet market may cause some setbacks for Lenovo PC sales as well as its LePad tablets.

[via Reuters]