In the fourth quarter of 2009, the laptop will surpass the PC in terms of quantity sold

Research firm iSuppli said that the number of laptops (laptops) consumed in the global market in the third quarter of 2008 surpassed the number of desktop PCs sold in the same period for the first time.

Although the superior number is not large, this is the first time in the history of the world PC manufacturing industry witnessed the breakthrough of the laptop product line. Specifically, compared to the third quarter of 2008, the number of laptops consumed in the third quarter of this year increased by more than 40% to 38.6 million units.

Meanwhile, the desktop PC market segment did not achieve much positive results in the third quarter of 2008. Compared to the same period last year, the number of desktop PCs consumed in the third quarter of this year decreased by 1.3. % down to 38.5 million units.

Matthew Wilkins, a leading analyst at iSuppli, confirmed that a sudden surge in the laptop lineup in the third quarter of this year was not really a surprise, but it was actually a what has been predicted before.

' But this event is still remarkable because it is considered a new milestone in the global PC manufacturing industry. It will mark the beginning of the laptop era. The driving force for the laptop market segment is still very large despite the economic difficulties . '

Even though the economy is struggling, the total number of PCs consumed globally in the third quarter of this year still increased by 15.4% over the same period last year - reaching a total of 79 million units sold. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) continues to be the world's largest PC maker with a market share of 18.8% - equivalent to 14.9 million products.

Second is Dell. However, the gap between this company and HP seems to be shrinking. Dell's number of PCs sold in the third quarter of this year is only 3.9 million units behind HP.

Acquiring the fastest growth rate in the third quarter of this year is Acer. The total number of notebooks sold by the company in three months - July through September - has increased by more than 3 million units compared to the second quarter of this year. Most of the products consumed are from the Acer netbook line. This figure is equivalent to 45% growth rate compared to the third quarter of 2008 and 79% compared to the same period last year.

iSuppli forecasts that the total number of PCs sold globally this year will increase by 12.5 to 13% compared to the figure for the whole year of 2007.