The PC boom has well and truly ended, with worldwide shipments declining 15.3 per cent for the second quarter of the year.

The June quarter saw just 71.3 million units shipped, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. This marks the second consecutive quarter of lower year-on-year shipments, following two years of straight quarterly growth during the height of the pandemic.

According to IDC, this recent decline was worse than expected as supply and logistics further deteriorated due to the lockdowns in China and persistent macroeconomic headwinds.

“Fears over a recession continue to mount and weaken demand across segments,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobile Device trackers.

“Consumer demand for PCs has weakened in the near term and is at risk of perishing in the long term as consumers become more cautious about their spending and once again grow accustomed to computing across device types such as phones and tablets.

“Meanwhile, commercial demand has been more robust although it has also declined as businesses delay purchases.”

The top three companies — Lenovo, HP and Dell didn’t shift position, although Apple’s production dip saw them drop into fifth place, nudging Acer into fourth.

Despite the quarterly drop, total PC shipments are just well above pre-pandemic levels, with second quarter of 2018 and 2019 seeing 62.1 million and 65.1 million units respectively.

The fall out isn’t expected to stop, though, with IDC’s research manager Neha Mahajan predicting “another quarter of double-digit decline” across most segments of the PC market.