Shipments of notebooks to be launched in the peak sales period prior to new year began in October, but shipments in the fourth quarter are expected to increase on quarter by less than 5% and quite a large portion of shipments are small-volume orders, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Digitimes Research expects global notebook shipments to drop 3% sequentially in the fourth quarter.
Despite the release of Windows 8.1, brand vendors' orders for new notebook models for the fourth quarter only increased mildly, a sign showing Microsoft's weakening influence in the PC industry, the sources noted.
Wistron chairman Simon Lin recently pointed out that he expects the company's notebook shipment ratio for the first and second halves of 2013 to reach 5:5. Wistron's notebook shipments in the third quarter had 2% sequential growth and the company expects its fourth-quarter shipments to suffer a drop on quarter.
Meanwhile, Quanta Computer expects its fourth-quarter shipments to see a growth compared to the third with a shipment ratio of 45:55 for the first and second halves of 2013. Quanta shipped 20 million notebooks in the first half and 11 million units in the third quarter. To achieve its shipment ratio goal, the company will need to ship 13.4 million units in the fourth quarter.
Digitimes Research expects Quanta to be the only ODM to see sequential shipment growth in the fourth quarter.
Quanta is the manufacturer of Apple's MacBook series products, but because of tablets, shipments of Apple's Mac series products are expected to suffer on-year decline in 2013, the sources said.
Compal Electronics shipped 32.1 million PC in the first three quarters of 2013 and its shipments in the fourth quarter will grow 5-7% on quarter. Compal president Ray Chen recently said that the notebook industry's decline is currently shrinking and the market should return to healthy in 2014.
Inventec is having strong shipment performance in 2013 thanks to orders for HP's enterprise notebooks, the sources noted. After enjoying strong growth in the third quarter, Inventec's shipments in the fourth quarter will drop slightly on quarter, the sources added.
