Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - PC Shipments Continue to Slump in Holiday Quarter

NEEDHAM, MA — Global PC shipments fell below expectations in the fourth quarter as 67.2 million PCs were shipped, down 28.1% from the prior year, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

The IDC reported that while the pandemic boom is over for the PC market, annual shipments for 2022 were well above pre-pandemic levels at 292.3 million units for the full year. However, demand remains a concern as most users have relatively new PCs and the global economy worsens.

"Average selling prices (ASPs) across many channels also fell as excess channel inventory over the course of the past few months triggered discounting in an effort to spur demand," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "Despite these efforts, inventory management of finished PCs as well as components will remain a key issue in the coming quarters and has the potential to further affect ASPs."

Supply side activity shows many large vendors entered 2023 with a cautious outlook, but the consensus is that portions of the PC market could return to growth in late 2023 with the overall market following in 2024. The commercial segment has several drivers towards growth, including the approaching end of support for Windows 10 and a building refresh cycle, while the consumer market remains a wildcard for 2023 and beyond.

"Consecutive quarters of declines clearly paint a gloomy picture of the PC market, but this is really all about perception," said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "2021 was near historic levels for PC shipments, so any comparison is going to be distorted. There’s no question when we look back at this time that the rise and fall of the PC market will be one for the record books, but plenty of opportunity still lies ahead. We firmly believe the market has the potential to recover in 2024 and we also see pockets of opportunity throughout the remainder of 2023."

Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Traditional PC Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Q4 2022 (Preliminary results, shipments are in millions of units)
Company	4Q22 Shipments	4Q22 Market Share	4Q21 Shipments	4Q21 Market Share	4Q22/4Q21 Growth
1. Lenovo	15.5	23.0%	21.6	23.1%	-28.5%
2. HP Inc.	13.2	19.6%	18.6	19.9%	-29.0%
3. Dell Technologies	10.8	16.1%	17.2	18.4%	-37.2%
4. Apple	7.5	11.2%	7.7	8.2%	-2.1%
5. ASUS	4.8	7.2%	6.1	6.5%	-20.9%
Others	15.4	22.9%	22.3	23.9%	-31.0%
Total	67.2	100.0%	93.5	100.0%	-28.1%
Source: IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, January 10, 2023

Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Traditional PC Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, 2022 (Preliminary results, shipments are in millions of units)
Company	2022 Shipments	2022 Market Share	2021 Shipments	2021 Market Share	2022/2021 Growth
1. Lenovo	68.0	23.3%	81.8	23.4%	-16.9%
2. HP Inc.	55.3	18.9%	74.0	21.1%	-25.3%
3. Dell Technologies	49.8	17.0%	59.3	16.9%	-16.1%
4. Apple	28.6	9.8%	27.9	8.0%	2.5%
5. ASUS	20.6	7.0%	21.8	6.2%	-5.7%
Others	70.1	24.0%	85.2	24.3%	-17.8%
Total	292.3	100.0%	350.1	100.0%	-16.5%
Source: IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, January 10, 2023