King of the hill
Lenovo's been the number one supplier of PCs (in terms of shipments) for several quarters now, having shoved aside Hewlett-Packard to take the top spot. However, that hasn't been the case (until now) if you talk to Canalys, which clumps tablets into the PC category.
By considering tablet shipments when tallying up PC sales, Apple was able to hold the lead since the third quarter of 2014. That's because of its highly popular iPad line, which includes both 9.7-inch iPad slates (the latest of which is the iPad Air 2) and the smaller iPad mini.
Well, even if you want to include tablets in the mix, Lenovo still leads the pack. According to Canalys, Lenovo shipped just shy of 16 million PCs (desktops, notebooks, and tablets combined), which is around 240,000 more than Apple. That gives Lenovo a 15 percent share of the market.
The gap would be even bigger -- much bigger, in fact -- if discounting tablet sales. Canalys says Apple is "heavily reliant" on its iPad sales, which totaled 10.9 million units. That figure represents more than two-thirds -- 70 percent -- of Apple's total PC shipments in the second quarter of 2015.
"These shipments have been falling year on year since peaking in Q4 2013. Apple remains exposed to the fortunes of the worldwide tablet market, which has experienced annual declines for three consecutive quarters," said Tim Coulling, Canalys Senior Analyst.
Meanwhile, Lenovo enjoys almost 30 percent of the Chinese PC market and is growing its share in the U.S. Coulling added that Lenovo has a more diverse product portfolio than Apple and therefore is in a "stronger position" to lead the market.
That's not to say it's been all smooth sailing for Lenovo. The company recently had to take steps to clear a build-up of inventory in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and earlier this year Lenovo came under fire for pre-loading the Superfish adware on some consumer PCs.
According to Canalys, the global PC market fell 12 percent year-over-year to 109.2 million units in Q2 2015, with double-digit declines affecting desktop, notebook, and tablet shipments. However, Microsoft just launched Windows 10, and with early impressions being mostly positive, there could be an uptick in sales.
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