Lenovo notebooks put in Q3 2012 star showing as desktops struggle

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Lenovo saw notebook sales rise but desktop PC struggled in Q4 2012, the company has revealed today, with the shipments of portables up 9.5-percent year-on-year while sales of their desk-bound brethren managed a mere 1-percent rise. The Chinese PC company saw sales of $9.4bn over the three month period, shipping 14.1m PCs for pre-tax revenue of $246m. It also saw a profit from its Chinese smartphone division, the first time that's been recorded.

Lenovo ended the quarter – as of December 31 2012 – with 15.9-percent of the PC market share worldwide, and was the fastest growing "major PC company." Profit was up 15-percent year-on-year, to $1.1bn, while the contribution from smartphones, tablets, and smart TV rose 77-percent year-on-year.

However, it's not all good news. Lenovo's desktop PC business showed signs of the malaise across the industry, sales only climbing 1-percent, though shipments were up 5.8-percent worldwide. Lenovo is keen to point out that the PC industry as a whole saw a 6.8-percent decrease in shipments overall.

Lenovo now claims 12.3-percent of the Chinese smartphone market, while its smartphone, tablet, and smart TV group made $998m – 11-percent of the total quarterly sales. But it's notebooks which are the real winners, with 15.8-percent market share and contributing over half of Lenovo's total sales revenue. Sales in fact rose 8-percent year-on-year, to $4.8bn.