Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, Lenovo, Acer and Asustek Computer, the five largest notebook vendors, saw combined shipments in April decrease 32% on month, while Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron, the world's three largest notebook ODMs, saw combined shipments in April slip 16% on month, according to Digitimes Research's latest monthly notebook shipment report.
In addition to March's high shipment comparison, the vendors' pessimistic attitude about notebook demand in the second quarter was also a main factor for the drop.
Lenovo, HP and Acer saw their shipments fall over 50%, over 40% and close to 30% on month, respectively in April, but compared to April a year ago, HP still enjoyed growth, Digitimes Research's figures showed.
Dell had the best performance among the top-five vendors in the month with a slight increase in shipments from March and 20% on year thanks to new notebook products.
Compal and Wistron both had about 20% on-month shipment declines in April, while Quanta only suffered about 10% due to increased orders from Apple.
Microsoft's plans of expanding Office's support to other platforms and having other platforms' apps support Windows are expected to benefit Windows-based smartphones and 2-in-1 devices significantly. As for PCs, Windows 10, which is scheduled to be released in the third quarter, is having some impact on PC shipments in the second quarter.