Harder was the fall for sales of computers and tablets in Western Europe! Canalys compiled the numbers for the fourth quarter of 2022 and they’re not good at all — like everywhere else in the world, for that matter.
In the last quarter of 2022 in Europe, laptop computer shipments fell by 40% (8.6 million), desktop computers by 29% (2.1 million units), and tablets by 17% ( 6.6 million). Combined, computers (desktops and laptops) stumbled 38%. Over the year as a whole, desktops and laptops fell by 21%, tablets by 18%. Ouch! It should be remembered, however, that the comparison is somewhat biased: the results for the fourth quarter of 2021 still benefited from very strong demand due to the pandemic.
Canalys recalls that from the second quarter of 2020, Western Europe surveyed eight quarters with higher delivery volumes than during the holiday quarter of 2019! In fact, there is currently a phenomenon of saturation. And despite the strong discounts granted by manufacturers (not all of them…) at the end of last year, that was not enough since deliveries plummeted by 27% between the third and fourth quarters.
Apple is the fourth manufacturer in the region with 1.4 million Macs shipped in the fourth quarter, or 13.2% of the market. The Cupertino builder is not doing much better than its comrades with a contraction of nearly 23% compared to the previous year. Between the third and fourth quarters, it was Apple that showed the largest drop in shipments: -39%.
Over the year as a whole, the performance is better even if it remains negative (-5.3% with 6.3 million Macs delivered).
Apple remains number 1 in the tablet segment with 0% growth in deliveries all round in the fourth quarter (3.4 million units) thanks to the launch of the iPad 10. On the other hand, it is a drop of 16 8% over the whole year (11.1 million iPads), unlike Samsung and Amazon, which posted growth of 5.5% and 8% respectively.
Manufacturers as a whole should continue to eat black bread in 2023: Canalys forecasts a drop in PC shipments of 7%. On the other hand, growth should once once more be there in 2024 and 2025 with forecast increases of 12% and 15%.
