Notebook vendors are still unable to compete effectively against Apple, according to a “DigiTimes” (http://macte.ch/2dCY9). Senior analyst Joanne Chien says that Aple’s ultra-thin MacBook series products (such as the MacBook Air) accounted for 50% of global notebook shipments that feature an ultra-thin design in the second quarter.

MacBook Air shipments in the fourth quarter are still expected to surpass the combined shipments of the non-Apple notebook brand vendors’ ultrabook and ultra-like notebook products, she adds. Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) weak shipments in June caused global top-six brand vendors to only achieve on-month growth of 2% combined, Chien says. However, she adds that the top-three notebook original device manufacturers are expected to have achieve 21% on-month growth in June shipments after experiencing a weak April and May.