It’s been a hard 18 months for PC manufacturers who after a boom during COVID saw sales slump, now there is new indications that sales are set to return according to Canalys Research who are tipping a better 2024.
The good news was no help to Dell Technologies who late last week reported revenue that declined more than expected, buffeted by continued fall in demand for personal computers.
Fiscal third-quarter sales fell 10% to $22.3 billion.
The client solutions group, which includes corporate and consumer PC sales, dropped 11%, far short of analysts’ expectations.
Revenue will be about $22 billion in the period ending in January, Chief Financial Officer Yvonne McGill said on a conference call after the results were released.
The consumer PC unit will see sales decline in the “low single-digits sequentially,” McGill said, although “we’re seeing pockets of stability in CSG demand that have yet to see a broader recovery in the PC market.”
Research reveals that notebook and workstation sales have sunk from their pandemic highs throughout 2023 and normalized back to where they were in 2019.
One of the most affected is Apple with consumers turning off their Mac PC offerings, with sales falling over 40% with their new chips failing to deliver the growth Apple was expecting.
The latest study from Canalys nis predicting a surprising surge in interest in the PC in 2024.
After seven straight quarters of decline, the report from Canalys forecasts 5% growth in the final quarter of 2023 and 8% year-over-year growth in 2024 as a whole.
The predictions have been described as “promising”.
The President of HP has already claimed that he thinks that the PC market has already started recover, saying ““As we have said before, we think this is going to double the growth of the PC category starting next year.”
A big contributor is tipped to be AI and the introduction of the “AI PC.”
ChannelNews understands that at least two major brands will use CES 2024 to reveal new AI notebooks at CES 2024.
The new models will include a NPU (neural processing unit) for speeding up AI workloads on the hardware side — but also in software.
Windows has baked generative AI right into the operating system with Copilot, along with all the features built into existing software.
ARM-powered PCs is the other reason given for the predicted growth.
Qualcomm’s massive Snapdragon Elite X announcement, caught the attention of the world, as did the report that more established players like AMD and Nvidia might also soon be dipping their toes into the PC market.
If a Windows ARM revolution was ever going to happen, next year is the year for this claim researchers.
Also coming is a Windows refresh cycle which is tipped to deliver a bump in PC sales.
Windows 12 (as it’s been tentatively titled) has been rumoured for launch sometime in 2024, just three years after the debut of Windows 11.
AI will likely play a huge role in Windows 12, and even though you’ll likely be able to update your current PC eventually, the initial batch of devices may come preloaded with the latest features and design, as was the case with the rollout of Windows 11 claim observers.
