Who are HP’s (Hewlett Packard) competitors?
HP (Hewlett Packard)Â is a market leading brand of personal computers, laptops, printers, and other computing related products. It was founded in 1939 through a partnership between William R Hewlett and David Packard. Later, the brand was incorporated in 1947.
Apart from computing and other access devices, HP sells imaging and printing products as well as other related technologies, solutions and services. In 2015, it broke to become two companies – HP and HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise).Â
HP currently is among the market leaders after Lenovo in the PC industry, and followed by Dell, Apple and Acer. In 2017, it held a market share of 21% followed by Lenovo at 20.8%. However, with time Lenovo’s share in the PC industry has continued to grow.
The level of competition in the personal computing industry has grown high, resulting in higher spending by brands including HP over research and development as well as marketing. HP has a large and diverse product portfolio.
The brand has continued to grow its product range and apart from products made for the lower end market, it caters to the upper end market through premium laptops and other products.
Its strategic focus has remained on research and innovation for faster market growth. In fiscal 2021, the total net revenue of the company grew by more than 12% compared to the prior year.
Among the main competitors of HP are Apple, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, MSI, Epson, Toshiba and Canon.
Apple:
One of the biggest competitors of HP, Apple is known best for its MacBooks and I-Phones. It is also among the most renowned companies in the personal Computing industry.
However, compared to HP its market share in the PC industry is much smaller. The brand still enjoys much higher profit margins than any other computing brand and that’s why it is a formidable competitor. Apart from that, in terms of innovation, Apple is far ahead of any of its competitors.
In the recent years, Apple’s brand value has grown very fast. Its market capital has crossed the $2.8 trillion mark and it is the first company to have achieved this feat.
Like the other PC brands, Apple too invests heavily in research and development. Its range of tablets is larger than that of HP. However, due to its premium pricing strategy, the customer base is comparatively smaller.
HP, on the other hand, uses a more competitive pricing strategy to cater to customers from both the higher and the lower end market.
The two global brands are among the largest five in the PC industry based on market share.
Acer:
Acer is also a major competitor of HP and a well known brand in the Personal Computing industry. However, compared to HP, its market share is much smaller. Acer was founded in 1976 and is now a well known global company with presence across 160 countries.
Its consolidated revenues in 2017 reached 237.3 Billion New Taiwan Dollars. In the recent years, its PC business has stabilized. The sales of its notebooks has grown which accounted for 62.3% of its revenue in 2017 and desktops for 14.3%.
 In the short term, Acer has planned to focus upon strengthening the foundation of existing product lines and innovations, along with the development of software applications, integrating cloud platforms and cloud services. In the longer terms, it plans to allow its business divisions to explore new avenues.
Dell:
Dell is a major competitor of HP and holds a significant market share in the Personal Computing industry. It has a large product portfolio of products from lower priced laptops for the lower end market to premium gaming machines.
Its business is divided into four reportable segments that include Client Solutions Group, Infrastructure Solutions Group, VMWare and Dell Financial services. Its client solutions group is the provider of branded hardware, such as desktop Personal Computers, notebooks and tablets, and branded peripherals, such as monitors, printers, and projectors, as well as third-party software, and peripherals.Â
Apart from its traditional PC business, Dell also offers a portfolio of thin client offerings that is well-positioned to benefit from the growth trends in cloud computing.
Asus:
Asus is also an important competitor of HP with a significant share in the Personal Computing industry. It is also a technologically innovative brand that has brought a large range of products to the market.
2017 was a challenging year for Asus when its revenue decreased by 7% compared to 2016. Its consolidated revenue totaled NT$434 billion. Despite the intense competition and high pressures the brand performed relatively well and 2017 was an year of transformations for it.
Lenovo:
Lenovo is the closest competitor of HP. Its market share in the PC industry is higher than Apple and Dell. In 2017, when HP’s market share was around 21%, Lenovo’s stood at 20.8%.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Gartner, Lenovo’s market share was 24.6%, while that of HP was 21.1%.
 It has a large product portfolio made up of gaming products, laptops & ultrabooks, tablets, desktops, smartphones and cloud storage as well as more products and services.
The brand has been around for more than 20 years and has acquired global fame in the meantime. Lenovo’s hold on the Asian markets is much stronger than any of the other personal computing brands.
Like HP, Lenovo has also used a competitive pricing strategy. However, its product portfolio is larger and more varied.
Samsung:
Samsung has a much smaller market share in the PC industry.
Still, it is an innovative brand and has brought a nice range of computing products from laptops and PCs to memory products as well as printers and accessories.
The brand surpassed Intel to become the leading maker computer chips in 2017. Its total revenue in 2017 reached 211.8 Billion US dollars rising from 178.5 Billion US dollars in 2016.
Samsung is an innovative brand and is investing in AI and other new technologies for faster growth.
MSI (Micro Star International):
MSI is also a renowned brand of computing products that despite its lower market share has created a strong presence in the global market. It is mainly known as the brand for gamers.
MSI or Micro Star International has brought a large range of products to the market including laptops, desktops, monitors, motherboards, graphics cards as well as gaming gear. Sales Revenue of the brand increased to 106.42 Billion New Taiwan Dollars from 102.2 Billion New Taiwan Dollars.
Epson:
Epson is a well known brand of printing solutions that offers some other products too. Apart from printing solutions, it makes, markets and sells, visual communications, wearable and industrial products. The brand primarily competes with the printer business of HP. Its printing business accounts for the largest part of the brand’s revenue.
In 2017, the brand’s revenue amounted to 9.1 Billion US dollars, out of which the printing business accounted for 6.1 Billion US dollars. Its range of printing business solutions includes home and office inkjet printers, serial impact dot matrix (SIDM) printers, page printers, color image scanners, and related consumables, as well as office paper making systems.
Canon:
Canon is also a well known brand globally which aims to become the number one printing brand of the world. Commercial printing market has become highly complex with growing digitization.
Net Sales of the brand grew to 4080 Billion Yen in 2017. Canon has maintained an impressive presence in the international market and is a major competitor of HP in the printer segment.
Toshiba:
Based in Tokyo, Japan, Toshiba is also among the leading competitors of Hewlett Packard Inc. The company offers a wide range of products designed for commercial, industrial and residential sectors. It also offers a nice range of printing and storage solutions.
While Toshiba’s market share compared to HP in the PC industry is much smaller, it also offers a nice range of laptops and tablets.
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