The global top-5 notebook brands, not including Apple, saw their combined shipments plunge 29% on month and nearly halve from a year ago in January due to a slow channel inventory digestion and the fact that the market was in the transitional period before the brands will launch their new products and therefore reduced orders for their existing models.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) returned as the largest notebook brand in January since the US-based vendor had better inventory digestion than competitors.
Compal performed the best among the ODMs in the month as its largest client Dell placed increased orders, while its orders from Taiwan-based brands had remained steady.