PC markets have plummeted - but that might not be all bad
Another quarter of disruption sees global sales fall sharply
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The PC market has seen another quarter of disruption, with new analyst figures showing that global figures fell sharply over the past few months.
The latestGartner quarterly figuresshowed that the top four largest companies all saw a steep decline in Q2 2022 as supply chain issues and lockdowns took their toll.
The company’s research foundHPshipments fell by 27.5% compared to the same quarter in 2021,Acerlost 18.7%,Lenovodropped 12.5% andDellfared best, dropping only 5.2%.
PC slump
Not every company was hit hard, as back in Q1 2022,Applepredicted the steep drop off and prepare accordingly. Gartner’s figures showed that Apple appeared to be the only manufacturer that did not suffer a year-on-year loss, and in fact actually saw a positive growth of 9.3%.
Lenovo once again took top spot, shipping around 1.78 million units for a 24.8% market share, ahead ofHP(1.35 million for 18.8%) and Dell (1.32 million for 18.5%) rounding out the top three ahead of Apple, Acer and ASUS.
Elsewhere, figures from IDCestimatedthat around 15.3% less computers were sold in the three months covering Q2 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 - equivalent to a loss of around 71.3 million units.
The figures may yet fall even further, with IDC’s Devices and Display Team’s Neha Mahajan noting that, “with education PC appetite saturating and consumer demand stagnating, the US PC market is staring at another quarter of double-digit decline across most segments”.
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“Commercial PC demand is also showing signs of a slowdown, however there are still pockets of growth expected in certain commercial sub-segments where demand for low-mid range Windows decides remains active and unfilled.”
However, IDC did note that the total PC market is still in fact comparable to where it was at the beginning of the pandemic, when volumes reached 74.3 million in the second quarter of 2020, and is also still well above pre-pandemic levels.
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The initial fear of recession, avoidance of high price items, and adaptations to cheaper, lesser machines should push the PC market to adapt and embody the new reality. Rather than creating devices for the needs of yesterday, create machines with the remote or hybrid worker in mind, or multi-user, perhaps cheaper, or modular.
Following the trajectory of the PC market, it can be expected that recourse must happen, with manufacturers needing to respond in a way that keeps customers engaged and interested.
Former TechRadar Pro B2B Hardware Editor, Collin has been in journalism for years, with experience in small and large markets, including Gearadical, DailyBeast, FutureNet, and more.
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