In 2020 and 2021, the use of telecommuting and distance education (and the fact that people are generally spending more time at home) have boosted demand for computers. In 2021, in particular, global sales have peaked. However, in 2022, the situation was complicated for many industries, including the computer industry.
Indeed, in addition to the fact that we have returned to life before the pandemic, the macroeconomic context has deteriorated. For computers, this has caused successive declines in the volume of shipments. And according to a new report from IDC, in the last quarter of 2022, PC shipments worldwide plunged 28.1% year-over-year.
It’s the end of the “boom”
In its report, IDC declares the end of this period of growth for the PC industry. “It is clear that the pandemic boom is over for the market,” read the analyst firm’s post. But despite this spectacular drop in shipments, IDC puts it into perspective by specifying that throughout 2022, computer shipments were still higher than before the pandemic. 292.3 million computers were shipped last year, compared to 350.1 million in 2021. The decline, year over year, is 16.5%.
Additionally, PC shipments in the last quarter of 2022 suffer in comparison to shipments in 2021, which was an exceptional year. “2021 was near historic levels for PC shipments, so any comparison is going to be skewed. There’s no doubt when we look back to this era that the rise and fall of the PC market will be among the record highs, but there are still many opportunities ahead,” said Ryan Reith, vice president at IDC.
Global shipments of traditional PCs were down 28.1% year over year in Q4 2022 and 16.5% for the full year, according to preliminary results from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. https://t.co/gOp14wNPNg pic.twitter.com/jTxr6DdQTW
— IDC (@IDC) January 11, 2023
A start of growth from 2023
Also, IDC is pretty bullish on PC shipments for 2023 and 2024. For now, manufacturers are cautious (which has affected chipmaker order books). Nevertheless, for the analysis firm, certain parts of the computer market could return to growth at the end of 2023. Then, it is the whole market which could return to growth in shipments in 2024.
Otherwise, it should also be noted that once again, Apple is doing better compared to its competitors. In 2022, Mac shipments edged up 2.5%. Apple is number 4 in the world. At Lenovo, the market leader, shipments were down 16.9% in 2022. HP’s shipments were down 25.3%, and Dell’s were down 16.1%. As for Asus, its shipments were down 5.7%. The rest of the computer market saw shipments drop 17.8%.
