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Businesses China Hardware

Lenovo Posts Worst Revenue Fall In 14 Years As PC Demand Slumps (reuters.com) 47

Posted by BeauHD from the supply-and-demand dept.
China's Lenovo reported a 24% revenue decline for the third quarter, its largest revenue fall in 14 years as global demand for electronics slumped, and said it would look to cut spending and make workforce adjustments. Reuters reports: The world's largest maker of personal computers (PCs) said on Friday that total revenue during the October-December quarter was $15.3 billion, down 24% from the same quarter a year earlier. The results trailed an average Refinitiv estimate of $16.39 billion drawn from seven analysts. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 provided a huge boost in electronic sales for Lenovo and its peers worldwide as many people opted to work remotely and replaced or upgraded their equipment. However, demand has begun to fall and Lenovo's revenue started contracting in the July-September quarter last year.

Lenovo Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing told an analyst call after its earnings that the entire PC and mobile market experienced a "severe downturn" in the last quarter, and the company was looking to reduce expenses and improve efficiency. Lenovo is aiming to reduce its run rate operational expenses by approximately $150 million to achieve a medium-term goal of doubling net margin, its chief financial officer, Wong Wai Ming, added. "This includes overall reduction in operational spending as well as workforce adjustments where necessary and appropriate." he said.
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Lenovo Posts Worst Revenue Fall In 14 Years As PC Demand Slumps More

Lenovo Posts Worst Revenue Fall In 14 Years As PC Demand Slumps

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  • Install Linux by default and watch sales SOAR! (Score:3)

    by dmay34 ( 6770232 ) on Friday February 17, 2023 @09:27PM (#63302661)

    ...right out the window!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sk999 ( 846068 )

      Are you sure? I've owned 3 Thinkpads, the last one sold under the Lenovo brand. It DID come with Linux installed (by a 3rd party) but the experience was ... meh. The problem was that a few hacks were made to the kernel get the hardware to work, but there were still issues, and the 3rd party never provided any updates. In the end, I wiped and installed Fedora, which at that point had caught up and worked out of the box.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jmccue ( 834797 )
      and bring back the old Thinkpads like the T420. Build what people want instead of spyware like Intel MI, secure boot and other crap.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by danda ( 11343 )

        this! Bring back the real thinkpad keyboard and thinklight, and I would upgrade from my x220s and x230s.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Most people want Secure Boot, it massively increases security and blocks virtually all the hard to remove malware that used to essentially run your OS in a VM.

        I skipped buying a Thinkpad last year because the models just were not very compelling. The Ryzen ones had good performance and battery life, but poor expandability. Either one NVMe slot and soldered RAM, or one USB4/Thunderbolt port. The Intel ones suffer from Intel's crap architecture, running hot and noisy.

        Maybe this year Ryzen machines will get go

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Most people want Secure Boot

          Total and utter rubbish. "Most people" don't know what secure boot is or that it even exists, unless it fucks up.

          And it provides zero protection against most common threats, which enter via the browser.

    • Sadly, what you say has merit. Linux installs are light, they don't need AV security drains the same way. Why would you need to replace laptops so frequently when using Linux outside of gaming? Only MS Teams can help with sales figures!

      • So ship hardware running Linux, making users less likely to upgrade their hardware, thus lowering computer sales as older computers last longer?

        That is called cutting your own throat.

        The current market has people installing FREE Windows 11 on hardware they bought 3-4 years ago, and it runs fine - you don't need 4/8 3 GHz cores and 16 Gigs of RAM to have an enjoyable experience running Win11. That free OS upgrade extended the life of countless desktops and laptops, reducing demand for new systems.

        The average

    • OMG, are you serious?

      Linux is free (as in beer) and the percentage of desktop/laptop users running Linux is a rounding error in the desktop market share reports.

      As has been previously proven, laptops/desktops that ship with windows are cheaper than the same hardware running Linux - yes, in some cases there is a windows license fee (and sometimes there isn't, based on computer specs - low-end systems are eligible for free licenses), but the license fee, if any, is typically offset by MS ad money (for adverti

  • If manufacturers keep moving towards soldered in components that cannot be upgraded, and super thin devices that are difficult to work on without specialized skills, expect this trend to continue. That goes not only for PC lines, but Apple lines as well.

    • My grandma isnâ(TM)t skipping Lenovo because of unsocketed RAM⦠Itâ(TM)s because the iPad works just fine.
      • Well not on Slashdot based on how it cannot handle Apple commas

      • Your Grandma isn't the target market for a $3-6k+ Thinkpad.

        The problem is, Lenovo's management doesn't seem to grasp that people who'll BUY a $3-6k+ Thinkpad are quite a bit more demanding than your Grandma. The fact that they even consider "thin and light" to be important selling points for models like the P1 and P16 shows how completely out of touch they are with their own core market.

        Hardcore Thinkpad buyers will cringe and overlook a lot of design sins for the sake of getting a real Thinkpad keyboard an

    • If manufacturers keep moving towards soldered in components that cannot be upgraded

      LPDDR DOES NOT exist in a socketed form. SODIMM sockets simply are not good enough electrically. Lenovo has socketed everything that can reasonably be socketed on thin light laptops. RAM isn't one of them because there is no suitable socket. Except for DELL who invented a new, proprietary, socket CAMM specifically for the task that is being standardised by JEDEC this year.

    • Soldered-on components lower product cost and give us the thin devices we prefer.

      Shipping a laptop with only 4 Gigs of RAM is limiting the product to only the most price-sensitive consumer, but shipping a laptop with 8 gigs soldered on is likely sufficient for the vast majority of consumers - no need to upgrade. Ditto for storage - putting a user-replaceable SSD in a laptop makes it thicker, less appealing to consumers. Besides, with the availability of cloud storage and streaming services, is there still a

  • They tainted the Lenovo name when all that awful spyware was installed during that Superfish scandal. I've bought a few new laptops since then, they're at the bottom of the list.

  • Would be nice, but neither TFS nor TFA (yes, I read TFA) had it.

    Lenovo is not some monolithic entity, they've got Servers (and white label storage to go with it) to offer enterprises, PCs por enterprises and users, and Mobile stuff (tablets and cellphones, both Lenovo Branded and Motorolla branded)

    I'd love to know the rate of decline of the different segments, and I guess that many more /.ers do too... Maybe someone will enounter a better link than the Reuters article.

    Thanks in advance

    • Re:decline per segment (server, PC, Mobile) (Score:4, Informative)

      by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Friday February 17, 2023 @10:18PM (#63302731)

      Would be nice, but neither TFS nor TFA (yes, I read TFA) had it.

      [...]

      I'd love to know the rate of decline of the different segments, and I guess that many more /.ers do too... Maybe someone will enounter a better link than the Reuters article.

      Thanks in advance

      Well, look at that, the register has the info!

      TL;DR
      The Infrastructure Solutions Group – servers, etc – grew to $2.85 billion from $1.928 billion, and the Solutions and Services Group climbed to $1.836 billion from $1.497 billion.

      https://www.theregister.com/20... [theregister.com]

  • I've got a long-in-the-tooth Thinkpad E570 that had been giving me the upgrade itch. The new ones all have non-removable batteries, but I figure that's just progress and I'd have to grin and bear it.

    I tried ordering a Gen 2 Thinkpad L15, but even with the upgraded FHD option, the display was just too dim. It also had the worst backlight bleed I've ever seen on an IPS display. I sent it back and tried the next step up - the touchscreen display. This one also had pretty bad backlight bleed, but not as bad

    • Re:Their laptops suck now (Score:5, Interesting)

      by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Friday February 17, 2023 @10:43PM (#63302777)

      Absolutely, and their customer and warranty service went out of the window the moment Thinkpad brand got sold off by IBM and acquired by Lenovo, too.

      I bought a custom-built T15 a year ago. During this year, I had three different technical failures:
      - the IPS 4k screen started showing a white strip on the bottom
      - the microSD slot would trap the card inside, preventing it from being released
      - the HDMI port died

      But fear not! I purchased their business-grade extended warranty with the next-day, ON-SITE service. Well.. Each and every time Lenovo would do whatever was in their power to not send an engineer to my house and to have me mail in my laptop (risking further damage in transit, of course) and wait up to 30 days for the repair instead.
      - They would first claim that I violated warranty by installing my own NVME hard drive which I didn't because hard drives what they call CRU - Customer Replaceable Units. I had to point them to their own online documentation to prove it.
      - Then they would claim they can't send engineers on site due to Covid restrictions, which wasn't true because the pandemic was considered long gone at that point and the government had already removed all restrictions.
      - Then they would say that that they can't do anything.
      - In response I would say that they legally agreed to an on-site service by selling me an on-site warranty and that they either they fulfil the terms of my warranty or I'll see them in court.
      - 20 emails and 2 weeks later, they would agreed to send an engineer to my home... in a month.

      This back-and-forth would happen every single time, with every single issue.

      Then, I had to argue again because they wanted to install refurbished, god-knows-how-old replacement components in my nearly-brand-new machine.

      They full deserve to suffer and even go under in return.

    • You describe a shift from focusing on corporate customers to retail consumers.

  • Many people use the internet on their phones. They use cloud software on their tablets. The days of the expensive laptop are going away for personal use.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by TheRev ( 109322 )

      Many people use the internet on their phones. They use cloud software on their tablets. The days of the expensive laptop are going away for personal use.

      I agree, connectivity is now phone based for many.

      You don't need a laptop/desktop for entertainment.
      Yes, there are crazy gaming rigs, but that is not everyone.

      Casual users can live with a phone or a tablet. TV's have built in Apps that are starting to get to a point where a Chromecast or FIre Stick isn't necessary (but still a good idea since the TV will be EOL'D in a few days).

      One needs a desktop for education and work, and even that is subjective depending on ones role and available software.

  • More recent older stuff isn't like 286/386 hardware: It still handles the workload, for the most part. My desktop development machine is an iMac from 2012, on which I do Controller stuff, mostly, though I did Xcode work, as well, before I couldn't update the OS any further because of artificial hardware constraints. This 10 year old machine works just fine, really, and I don't *need* the new Mac Mini I got, except I can't run the latest Xcode on my old machine, and that's kind of a downer. Couldn't get t

  • Thinkpad P1 gen5 is a DISGRACE (Score:4, Funny)

    by Miamicanes ( 730264 ) on Saturday February 18, 2023 @12:47AM (#63302931)

    Lenovo's sales have plummeted because their current crop of Thinkpads fucking suck.

    The Thinkpad P1 gen 5 is allegedly their best and highest-end mobile workstation. It has one goddamn usable m.2 socket. ONE!

    What the unholy FUCK was Lenovo thinking?!?

    The display is only 16 inches, and the 3840x2400 version can only do 60hz... and not even G-syc/FreeSync.

    It thermally throttles under any kind of sustained load.

    And this is their BEST, highest-end, and most expensive model. It's a disgrace to their entire once-hallowed name and heritage. Heads need to roll at Lenovo over this travesty.

    • There should be no surprises, they should be constantly surveying their market, and accepting Americans have different ideas. Which is why Dell has an offering for everyone. I would also say Windows 11 is a good example of why people do not like upgrading? across the board. There seems to be some PC diehards, who are not accepting of Macbook options. I refuse to pay for something that has TPM and fingerprint friendly, and graphics cards that don't seem right. Remove the bloat - and you will win over custome

      • I refuse to pay for something that has TPM and fingerprint friendly

        Uh, dude, your apple computers can identify you with the camera, somehow that's OK, but a fingerprint reader (as exists on countless millions of Apple iPhones) is a problem?

        And what is your issue with a TPM chip?

        You do realize Apple M1 hardware has a security function that renders them useless when the hardware refurbisher can't unlock the installed account? How is that better than a TPM chip?

        https://macdailynews.com/2023/... [macdailynews.com]

        • TPM does things behind your back, the opposite of trustworthy. When I said fingerprinting, I meant CPU has a serial number, memory too, HDD, CD, Comms cards, UEFI number - the list is endless, Google and others make a hash of these magic identifiers to track you, Now IF we could been BS, that would make tracking harder - MAC and IP address included. An account is linked to this hash, so you can guess why owners of the hardware are not allowed to play. Hopefully the EU or other will enable refurbishment .Wh

      • Building upon the example of how "out of touch" Lenovo is with their customer base, their rationale for eliminating additional m.2 ports and 2.5 inch hdd bays was, "few customers ordered laptops with additional storage devices". No fucking DUH! We bought Thinkpads with empty bays, and added additional drives OURSELVES. Eliminating those bays didn't increase sales of higher priced storage options, it just motivated us to look elsewhere (like Dell and Asus).

        Lenovo seriously takes its hardcore Thinkpad base fo

  • I've spent some time considering ThinkPads, and I was even a little excited about the snapdragon X13s, but I can't.. just can't use their website without it crashing in chrome, and the search-ability of their products is lackluster. Like I have issues with Dells filters, and somehow someone else screwed it up even worse.

    Then there is their offerings, lackluster at best. I like the ThinkPad form factor, but when it comes to x64 laptops and servers, its Dell hands down.
    Too many things soldered in, too many w

    • I can't.. just can't use their website without it crashing in chrome, and the search-ability of their products is lackluster.

      Ugh, yes. I was looking for information on some of their products and there's no way to search across their entire product line, it's broken up into separate sites. It's easily the worst website for a major PC vendor, even if it works as designed.

  • An i5 with 8gb ram and a 256 ssd is not a 2000US computer in any universe but they claim it is

  • Gave up on them after 4 laptops in a row died prematurely due to engineering failure for gpu cooling. Meanwhile, also avoiding china as much as possible. Hope Lenovo bites the dust.

  • Lenovo quality has fallen really badly over the last couple years. 1) I acquired a Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 9. I spilt a small amount of water on the keyboard and the screen stopped working. Aren't these keyboards supposed to have water intrusion protection!? 2) As a replacement I received another X1 Carbon. Now one of the charger ports won't work. I've only used it for 4 months. 3) I also acquired a Lenovo Ideapad Flex. Neither the camera nor the mic works. Luckily it's from Costco so I'm replacing the laptop

  • I'd focus more of the business and professional end rather than catering to all groups. I'd also focus on reduce and reuse for the components. Also sell more for the repair facilities to leverage.

    ---details---
    I'd simplify the product line, there should only be

    T-series (for professional work)
    X-series (for travelling work)
    G-series (for gaming)

    The X-series I would make as thin and portable as possible, but sacrifice customizability. i.e. no user replaceable parts. This would also be the cheapest in the lin

  • During the plandemic, everyone bought all new shit to bolster their new home office. Of course tech sales as a whole will be in a slump for some time, No one is going to need to buy new shit for probably at least 5 years. You should have socked away those record profits during the early stages of the plandemic for a rainy day like now.

  • In a day when there's all kinds of pushback, due to the eavesdropping potential of Chinese-made electronics, why do we not seem to be concerned with Chinese-made Lenovos?

  • Shitty overpriced factory builds are down. PC market is up % 5 every year for last 5 years, thanks to gaming segment.

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