- Interest rate hikes across the US, Europe and other global markets have dampened PC demand.
- Apple continued to record the largest decline, with total shipments of Macs slipping by almost 40%.
Global personal computer (PC) shipments fell by almost one-third in the first quarter of 2023, as compared to the same period in 2022.
Separate reports by Canalys and International Data Corporation (IDC) showed that the demand for PCs remained muted with Canalys reporting a 33% decline to 54 million units while IDC reported a 29% decline to 56.9 million units. Interest rate hikes across the US, Europe and other global markets have dampened PC demand.
The reports stated that the channel is currently focused on making inventory clearance a key priority. “Though channel inventory has depleted in the last few months, it’s still well above the healthy four to the six-week range,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. “Even with heavy discounting, channels and PC makers can expect elevated inventory to persist into the middle of the year and potentially into the third quarter,’ he said.
Canalys expects Q1 2023 to represent the largest shipment decline for the worldwide PC market this year, with recovery to begin in the second half of this year and gather momentum in 2024.
Apple continued to record the largest decline among the top five vendors, with total shipments of Macs slipping by almost 40%, followed by Dell Technologies which recorded a fall of nearly 30% in shipments. Third-placed Dell posted shipments of 9.5 million units, down 31% and falling below the 10 million units mark for the first time since Q1 2018.
Lenovo grabbed the top spot in the market for shipments of desktops and notebooks, in both reports with a market share of more than 22%, but suffered a large annual decline of 30%, down 12.7 million units. Asus stayed put at the fifth position with 3.9 million units of shipments.
Senior analyst, Ishan Dutt at Canalys said, “Consumers and businesses will remain cautious about outlays on new PCs in the short term, with significant market recovery only expected to kick in during the fourth quarter of 2023.”
He remained optimistic about the ability of the PC market to drive long-term growth, with PC shipment volumes higher than in the pre-pandemic era. “A much larger installed base post-COVID-19, the transition to Windows 11, and both refresh and new demand from digital education will all be key drivers as the global economy enters a period of recovery in 2024 and beyond,” he opined.
