Lenovo Continues Gains In U.S. PC Market, Microsoft In Top 5

Lenovo's push for market share in the U.S. PC market appears to be continuing to pay off, while Microsoft has taken a place as one of the leading PC vendors, according to third-quarter sales figures from research firm Gartner.

Lenovo saw strong results in the U.S. PC market for the second quarter in a row, with the company growing the fastest of any PC maker during the quarter with unit sales up 22.2 percent year over year.

[Related: Lenovo, Dell Biggest Gainers In U.S. PC Market For Q2]

The results were bolstered by Fujitsu sales—Lenovo now has a controlling stake in Fujitsu's PC business—while Lenovo has also rolled out new measures in the channel with the intent of spurring growth in the North American PC market this year.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has taken the No. 5 spot thanks to the company's Surface line of devices. The spot has typically been held by Acer or Asus in the past.

Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, told CRN in an email that previous figures released by the firm have been revised—indicating that Microsoft has been in the top five several times since the second quarter of 2017. However, it's the first time that Gartner's preliminary figures have shown Microsoft in the top five. During the "last few quarters, we underestimated Surface shipments when we [released our] preliminary results," Kitagawa said in an email.

Regardless, the results show that PC makers such as Acer, Asus and even Apple are under pressure from more than just the three largest manufacturers. Apple saw PC unit sales sink by 7.6 percent during the third quarter in the U.S., Gartner reported.

The third quarter was also kind to market leader HP Inc., which expanded its share of the U.S. PC market over second-place finisher Dell thanks to unit sales growth of 3.5 percent. Dell—which had briefly held the top spot in the rankings during the first quarter of this year—saw unit sales drop by 0.8 percent during the third quarter, according to Gartner.

Here are Gartner's U.S. PC market-share and unit sales growth/decline figures for the third quarter:

• HP Inc.: Market share of 30.7 percent (up from 29.5 percent a year earlier); unit sales growth of 3.5 percent
• Dell: Market share of 25.9 percent (down from 26 percent a year earlier); unit sales decline of 0.8 percent
• Lenovo: Market share of 15.4 percent (up from 12.6 percent a year earlier); unit sales growth of 22.2 percent
• Apple: Market share of 13.7 percent (down from 14.8 percent a year earlier); unit sales decline of 7.6 percent
• Microsoft: Market share of 4.1 percent (up from 4 percent a year earlier); unit sales growth of 1.9 percent

The rankings were a different story globally during the third quarter, with Lenovo regaining the top spot—with 23.6 percent market share—thanks to a big boost from Fujitsu. HP fell to No. 2 globally with 21.8 percent share, while Dell placed third with 16 percent share. Lenovo, HP and Dell also saw unit sales rise globally during the third quarter, but fourth-place finisher Apple suffered a drop of 8.5 percent during the quarter, earning the company 7.3 percent market share. Rounding out the top six globally were Acer with 6.1 percent market share and Asus with 6 percent.