Lenovo insists it is NOT world's largest PC maker

If Gartner is right and Lenovo has indeed become the largest PC maker on the planet, someone forgot to tell the Chinese juggernaut's top brass.

Talking at the release of Q2 numbers that showed a double-digit spike in sales and turnover, albeit slower than recent growth rates, CEO Yang Yuanqing seemed oblivious to last month's controversial analyst report.

"With the strong execution of our Protect and Attack strategy, Lenovo has continued its strong and balanced growth momentum. Our global PC market share reached another historic high, moving us closer to our dream of becoming the worldwide PC leader," he said.

Nothing stood in the way of the unstoppable PC sales machine's fiscal Q2 financials as turnover climbed 11 per cent to $8.7bn and profit went up 13 per cent to $162m.

PC shipments in the three months ended 30 September went up 10.3 per cent as the global shipments declined 8.6 per cent - one stat at least where Gartner and Lenovo are singing in unison.

In the quarter Lenovo acquired CCE, which it claims is Brazil's largest PC and consumer maker, and software/ cloud provider Stoneware. It also unveiled its OEM relationship with EMC to drive x86 server kit.

The vehicle driving this infrastructure biz came last week when Lenovo created the Enterprise Product Group, and rolled out some new boxes.

In its homeland, Lenovo grew turnover by a fifth to $3.9bn (44 per cent of total company revenues), cementing its PC market share to 34 per cent, up two points. Shipments were up 8 per cent in a flat market.

PC buyers in Asia Pacific and Latin America were also kind to the firm - market share edged up 1.6 per cent to 11.5 per cent as the total market dived ten per cent.

In EMEA, Lenovo bagged double-digit market share for the first time since taking over IBM's PC business, up three share points to 10.8 per cent. Shipments were up 27 per cent as the regional average dropped 8 per cent. Revenues were up 12 per cent to $1.8bn.

Across the Atlantic in North America, shipments were up 8 per cent as the market dropped 12 per cent. Sales grew 7 per cent to $1.2bn.

In terms of products group, laptops sales grew 3 per cent to $4.6bn, desktops increased 5 per cent to $2.8bn, and sales from the Mobile Internet Digital Home biz group were up 155 per cent to $718m.

Lenovo is still in the upper reaches of the PC space - and is certainly ahead of its own forecast to become the world's largest producer of desktops and notebooks.

But with the spotlight shifting from traditional form factors to smartphones and tablets, there is a new front on which Lenovo needs fight. Others are ahead of it already, outside of China anyway. ®