Global notebook shipments (not including detachable models) performed better than originally expected, shrinking only 9.5% sequentially and less than 35% on year in the first quarter of 2023, and the volumes will grow back 9% sequentially in the second quarter, according to DIGITIMES Research's latest numbers from the report covering the notebook industry.
The performance in the first quarter was driven by brand vendors' keen inventory digestion and component procurement deceleration, strong demand from the gaming sector, and a wave of robust short-term orders in March. With their inventory digestion reaching an end in the early second quarter, brands' new notebooks to begin volume shipment, and a recovery in the education sector's demand, Taiwan's shipments are expected to resume sequential growth in the second quarter with on-year decline shrinking to only slightly less than 15%.
All the top-6 notebook brands except Hewlett-Packard (HP) enjoyed a sequential shipment increase in the second quarter. HP had a high comparison base in the first quarter because of robust short-term orders in March. The US-based brand's orders for enterprise models are expected to decelerate, but its overall shipments will still stay flat from a quarter ago, figures from the report show.
Lenovo, ranked second, is expected to continue to be impacted by a high channel inventory in the second quarter. With its key markets, Europe and China, showing no major demand improvement, Lenovo's sequential shipment growth in the quarter will be lower than its competitors.
Dell, in third place, after suffering from sequential declines for three quarters straight, will see its shipments rise 10% sequentially in the second quarter with the strategy to focus on new enterprise procurement orders.
Number-4 Apple saw a major shipment decline in the first quarter because of weak demand and the fact that the US-based brand will soon release its new 15-inch entry-level MacBook Air. With the new notebook, Apple's shipments are expected to rise in the second quarter.
Asustek Computer, in fifth place, will focus on selling its gaming notebooks in the second quarter, while Acer, coming in sixth, will push for Chromebook procurement orders. Both brands are eyeing to achieve a 20% sequential shipment increase.
Taiwan ODMs' second-quarter shipments will also enjoy a recovery in the second quarter with Quanta seeing the highest pick-up in shipment share thanks to orders for Apple's new MacBook Air.
