EsU.S. computer imports are extremely seasonal, Panjiva data shows, reflecting purchases of laptops (which made up 78.9% of all units imported in the 12 months to September 30) ahead of the back-to-school and holiday gift season. Laptop imports fell 7.4% in September on a year with the result that overall computer imports dropped 6.2%. This may have been the result of consumers holding back purchases ahead of Apple’s launch of its new MacBook line on October 27 and Microsoft’s updated Surface line announced October 6.
A similar pattern may be at work with all-in-one PCs which experienced a 17.4% slump on a year earlier, offset by a 5.4% increase in stand-alone machines. Another factor here may be imports of higher-powered machines combined with purchases of virtual reality devices. Imports of servers were unchanged.
There may be a significant recovery in October – shipment data for all four categories indicates growth of 51.3%, the fastest rate of growth for the month since 2011.
Source: Panjiva
The growth in October is reflected in the shipment records for Wistron, which produces for HP and Dell among others, with a 2.5x increase on a year earlier. The VR trend is also shown by Alienware gaming-PC maker Quanta whose imports jumped 46.2%. The significant laggard was Compal with a 46.4% slump – this may reflect supply chain changes at Lenovo, who Compal assembles for.
Source: Panjiva
A 93.2% growth in imports by Lenovo would seem to confirm this theory, which may also be the result of the earlier launch of the Yoga line at the end of August. This led its imports to the highest since July 2011. HP Inc imports jumped 2.9x in October on a year earlier, and comes a year after its demerger from Hewlett Packard. Acer also grew 65.7%, with Dell the only loser among the major brands with a 34.4% drop in imports which came at the same time as its merger with EMC completed.
Source: Panjiva
