A new report suggests that the path to recovery for the personal computer (PC) market has been challenging following the “explosion” that occurred in 2020 and 2021, but signs of growth have finally started to emerge.
According to the “Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker” report by the International Data Corporation (IDC), PC shipments are expected to grow by 3.7% annually in 2024, reaching 261.4 million units.
While this shipment volume is higher than the 259.6 million units in 2018, it remains lower than the levels seen in 2019.
The industry continues to face challenges, including concerns related to the consumer market’s refresh cycle, businesses pushing forward with hardware purchases, and education budgets not rebounding in many markets.
As a result, the IDC report expects shipments in 2023 to decline by 13.7% year-over-year to 252 million units, Gaurav Upadhyay, Research Manager at IDC, stated, “Consumer demand remains lukewarm at best, as this sector continues to face headwinds economically.”
He added, “Consumer demand for PCs also faces competition from other devices, including smartphones, gaming platforms, tablets, and more, making 2023 the year with the largest annual decline in consumer PC shipments since the inception of this category.”
The commercial PC market has become interesting for several reasons, in terms of processors, we are witnessing some of the biggest shifts in the history of commercial PCs, with AMD’s market share expected to reach 11% in 2022, and Apple’s share slightly over 5%.
Furthermore, the introduction of generative artificial intelligence has made all decision-makers in the IT field wonder about budget allocation priorities.
Although AI-equipped PCs are not readily available today, they are on the horizon and have shifted some discussions about corporate hardware purchases.
Finally, the transition to remote or hybrid work environments has not disappeared, and as a result, many companies are still considering employee requests, this includes brands and types of PCs and whether there is a need for multiple computing devices for those in mixed work environments.
