IN BRIEF: After seven consecutive quarters of decline and one of the worst years in the PC industry’s history, the market is finally rebounding, having experienced its second consecutive quarter of growth. The 3% increase in shipments was driven by Apple, which saw the largest year-on-year growth of all the top five companies.PC market continues recovery with second consecutive quarter of growth
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Analyst firm IDC’s latest report on the state of the PC market shows total shipments in the second quarter reached 64.9 million, a 3% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. That figure would have been higher were it not for weak results in China holding the global market back. When excluding the Asian nation’s data, global shipments were up 5%.
Another quarter of growth is welcome news after the disaster that was 2023. Desktop and laptop workstation shipments fell 8.8% last year, according to IDC, representing the second-worst drop since the analyst’s records began in 2008. Gartner, meanwhile, said that 2023 was the worst year in history for the overall PC industry, with shipments down 14.8% year-over-year.
Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Device Trackers, said that the hype around AI PCs and the arguably more important commercial refresh cycle has given the PC market the shot in the arm it needed.
Looking at individual manufacturers, Lenovo remains on top with 14.7 million shipped units for a 22.7% market share, though second-place HP’s shipments were just one million lower.
Fourth-place Apple saw the largest yearly increase out of all the top firms. Cupertino’s shipments were up 20% to 5.7 million. Note that the figures do not include x86 servers or tablets, an area that Apple dominates with its iPad line.
The rest of the table is made up of third-place Dell – the only company that saw its annual shipments contract (by 2.4%) – and fifth-place Acer, which saw the second-highest shipments increase (13.7%).
Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said promotional activities from brands and channels have boosted the market. The low prices caused by excess inventory last year also seem to be a thing of the past, leading to growth in average selling prices.PC market continues recovery with second consecutive quarter of growth
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