Economic uncertainties, inflationary trends, and glut in supplies have dragged worldwide PC shipments by a whopping 30 per cent, totaling 55.2 million units in the first quarter of 2023.

Lenovo, which retained its market leadership with a share of 23.30 per cent, recorded the steepest annual shipment decline in its corporate history over two quarters.

The Asia Pacific PC market also had a significant decline, with China suffering the most due to high inventory in the channel and weak demand. “Outside of China, the PC market was also weak due to inflation, increasing interest rates and local currency depreciation. However, countries including India and Vietnam fared slightly better,” research firm Gartner Inc, said, citing preliminary estimates.

“An unfavorable combination of oversupply and continued low PC demand due to economic uncertainties and a lack of purchase motivation led to the second consecutive quarter of historic year-over-year decline,” it said.

Driving demand

The top vendors in the worldwide PC market remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2023. While the U.S. was a particularly challenging market for Lenovo, the company had modest growth in Japan driven by end of fiscal year PC purchases.

“PC pricing pressures intensified during the quarter as vendors offered considerable discounts to clear inventory,” Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner, said.

“To drive demand, vendors temporarily reduced average selling prices (ASP) of PCs already in the channels, but ASPs of new PCs shipping into the channels remained elevated due to inflation-driven supply chain cost increases,” she said.

She said ASPs will increase moderately in 2023 as vendors pass the cost increases for new PCs entering the channel to end users.

HP reports decline

HP shipments in EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) dropped by 37 per cent compared to a year ago but declined less steeply in the U.S. market. This was the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit shipment decline for HP, while Dell saw its fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline. Dell’s decline was largely driven by the weak business PC market.

“Business PC demand was slow overall this quarter, but the small and midsize business (SMB) market was especially weak due to economic uncertainties,” Kitagawa said.

US market declines by 26 per cent.

The U.S. PC market has come down by 26 per cent in the quarter. Dell secured the top spot in the U.S. PC market with a share of 26.4 p.c., followed by HP with a share of 25.7 per cent.

The EMEA PC market took a serious beating with a decline of 35.9 per cent over the last year’s numbers.

“The continued impact of political unrest, inflationary pressures, interest rate increases and a pending recession has culminated in another massive decline in the EMEA PC market,” she said.

“None of the top six vendors were immune from the collapse, all losing more than a third of their shipment volumes year-over-year,” she said.

The Asia- Pacific PC market also had a significant decline, with China suffering the most due to high inventory in the channel and weak demand. 

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