Worldwide PC shipments have suffered the steepest drop in over two decades, falling close to 20 per cent year-on-year.
According to Gartner, shipments of desktop and laptop computers totalled just 68 million units in the third quarter of 2022, a 19.5 per cent fall from the third quarter of 2021.
This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline and the biggest dive since the mid-90s, when Gartner began tracking the market.
While supply chain issues have eased, high inventory is the latest hurdle, given many consumers and businesses have bought PCs in the last two years.
“This quarter’s results could mark a historic slowdown for the PC market,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner.
“Back to school sales ended with disappointing results despite massive promotions and price drops, due to a lack of need as many consumers had purchased new PCs in the last two years.
“On the business side, geopolitical and economic uncertainties led to more selective IT spending, and PCs were not at the top of the priority list.”
Lenovo has maintained its market lead and improved its share, now shipping more than a quarter of all PCs globally, despite seeing its shipments slip by over 15 per cent. Lenovo’s first in-house manufacturing facility in Europe, which opened in Hungary in June, has led to growth in the company’s desktop sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
With 17.7 per cent of the market, Dell is fast closing in on second-place HP, who suffered laptop shipment declines. Dell recorded year-over-year growth in the desktop market in all regions except in Asia Pacific, although laptop shipments dropped everywhere except for in Japan.
Regionally, the US PC market declined 17.3 per cent, the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment decline, with Kitagawa noting, “inflation is the biggest concern in the U.S. market, but smaller businesses are showing relative optimism about macroeconomic conditions.” Dell leads the US market, with 26.8 per cent share.
The EMEA PC market decreased 26.4 per cent year-over-year in the third quarter, while the Asia Pacific market (excluding Japan) declined 16.6 per cent, largely due to slowed shipments in China.
