PC shipments are now back above pre-pandemic levels, but you may still want to hold off on buying them
The latest figures from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker show that PC shipments are finally on the rise again.
The first three months of 2024 saw 1.5% year-on-year growth, with 59.8 million shipments during the period.
Despite the positive news, IDC notes that PC shipments fell 28.7% over the same period in 2023, which could easily have seen a slight increase last quarter.
The number of PC shipments is increasing
In his announcementIDC also noted that PC shipments had returned to pre-pandemic levels, with Q1 2024 shipments extremely close to the 60.5 million units sold in Q1 2019.
IDC credits declining inflation for healthy growth, with the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa all showing signs of recovery.
However, it is said that ongoing geopolitical tensions between China and many Western countries have “had a direct impact on the global PC market.”
Research manager Jitesh Ubrani noted: “Despite China’s troubles, the recovery is expected to continue into 2024 as newer AI PCs hit shelves later this year and commercial buyers begin to renew PCs purchased during the pandemic. ”
Ubrani also noted that emerging AI PCs could not only help boost sales figures, with companies more willing to upgrade to a future-proof machine, but that the new category of computing equipment could also increase overall spending, with AI PCs likely to be a will ask a higher price. label.
Lenovo and HP continued to dominate the market in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for 23.0% and 20.1% respectively. Dell rounded out the top three with 15.5%, while Apple accounted for just 8.1% in fourth place.
Channels also announced its take on the global PC market, unveiling a total of 57.2 million shipments in the first three months of 2024 – the difference is due to different tracking metrics, but the 3.2% year-over-year growth that noted by Canalys, shares an equally positive outlook.
Canalys predicts that up to 50 million PCs shipped in 2024 will be AI-enabled, pointing to signs of growth in the emerging market, but as many companies typically wait to invest in new technologies, hardware and software, the coming quarters could will be critical in assessing not only the industry growth but also the relevance of AI PCs.