date of publication :
Sunday
08:25 2023-1-15
Total PC shipments around the year amounted to 65.3 million units during the last quarter of 2022, recording a decline of 28.5% compared to the same period in 2021, according to preliminary estimates issued by the research company, Gartner. This is the largest quarterly decline in shipments since Gartner began tracking shipments in the PC market in the mid-1990s. Annual shipments recorded approximately 286.2 million units during the year 2022, which represents a decline of 16.2% compared to 2021.
Mikako Kitagawa, director of analysts at Gartner, said: “The impact of expectations of stagnant markets, high inflation rates, and increasing interest rates was clearly reflected in PC demand levels. In addition to most users owning relatively new computers purchased during the pandemic period, the lack of affordability outweighed any incentives to buy, which contributed to consumer demand for the personal computer declining to its lowest level in years.
She added, “The corporate PC market has also been affected by the economic slowdown. Demand levels for personal computers at the corporate level began to decline since the third quarter of 2022, but they finally moved from a slowdown to a significant decline. As companies extended the life cycle of personal computers and postponed their purchases, which means that markets will not return to recording growth rates before 2024.
At the same time, the high inventory of PC units began to accumulate since the first quarter of 2022 and became a hurdle for the PC market. Also, weak PC supplies caused by high demand and supply chain issues during 2021 quickly turned into oversupply levels once demand began to decline significantly.
The top three manufacturers maintained their PC rankings unchanged during the last quarter of 2022, with Lenovo maintaining its lead in PC shipments.
While Lenovo maintained its market share of nearly 24%, the company recorded the largest rate of decline since Gartner began monitoring the PC market. PC shipments declined in all regions except Japan, with 30% declines in EMEA and Latin America.
HP and Dell also recorded record decline rates. HP was hit hardest in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where its shipments declined at an annual rate of 44%. As for Dell, weak demand in the major business sector affected its shipments in the second quarter of 2022.
The PC market is crashing
Total PC shipments amounted to approximately 286.2 million units during the year 2022, which represented a decrease of 16.2% compared to the same period in 2021, which is the worst annual rate of decline in shipments in the history of Gartner’s statistics for the PC market.
Kitagawa added: “Total levels of PC shipments in 2022 were similar to pre-COVID levels, with 2019 totaling less than 300 million units. The PC industry has experienced extraordinary fluctuations over the past eleven years. And following it succeeded in recording extraordinary growth rates between 2020 and 2021 due to the conditions of the pandemic, the markets began to trend downward significantly, and this trend is expected to continue until the beginning of the year 2024.
