Lenovo profits lifted by smartphone and tablet sales

Lenovo has recently diversified into smartphones and tablet PCs to help boost growth

China's Lenovo has reported a 36% jump in profits, boosted by a surge in sales of smartphones and tablet PCs.

It made a net profit of $220m (£137m) in the July-to-September quarter, as sales of mobile devices more than doubled from a year ago.

Lenovo, the world's biggest PC maker, has been focusing on mobile devices amid a slowing global PC market.

Its combined shipments of smartphones and tablets have now surpassed those of PCs for two quarters in a row.

Shipments of smartphones rose 78% year-on-year in the three months to the end of September, while those of tablets rose more than fourfold to 2.3 million units.

"Lenovo not only remains the top PC company in the world, but is also already the number four player in both smartphones and tablets worldwide and continues growing rapidly," Yang Yuanqing, chief executive of Lenovo, said in a statement.

He added Lenovo was likely to see further growth in the coming months helped by a recovery in the PC market as well as continued growth in the tablet PC sector.

"These are Lenovo's strength areas. We are confident that we will capture these opportunities," he said.

Lenovo said that a recovery in the Chinese market - which accounts for nearly 40% of its revenue - would boost its growth further.