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After enjoying a growth in sales during the Covide-19 pandemic, the global PC market has taken a severe beating in the fourth quarter of 2022 in the backdrop of a global recession, increased inflation and higher interest rates.
PC shipments stand at 65.3 million in the quarter, registering a decline of 28.5 per cent from the comparable quarter last year. The steep decline has dragged down the overall shipment numbers for the calendar year 2022, according to research firm Gartner.
“This marks the largest quarterly shipment decline since we started tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s. For the year, PC shipments reached 286.2 million units in 2022, a 16.2 per cent decrease from 2021,” the research firm said in its preliminary report.
Market share
Though the top three vendors in the worldwide PC market (Lenovo, HP and Dell) have retained their respective rankings in the fourth quarter of 2022, they suffered steep declines year-on-year.
While Lenovo reports a decline of 28 per cent, HP reported a decline of 29 per cent, and Dell 37 per cent
“Lenovo’s shipments fell in all regions except Japan, declining over 30 per cent in EMEA (Europe, the Middlle-East and Africa) and Latin America,” it said.
Reason for falling demand
“The anticipation of a global recession, increased inflation and higher interest rates have had a major impact on PC demand,” Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner, said.
“Since many consumers already have relatively new PCs that were purchased during the pandemic, a lack of affordability is superseding any motivation to buy, causing consumer PC demand to drop to its lowest level in years,” she pointed out.
Enterprise PC market
The enterprise PC market is also impacted by a slowing economy. Enterprise buyers are extending PC lifecycles and delaying purchases.
“PC demand among enterprises began declining in the third quarter of 2022, but the market has now shifted from softness to deterioration,” Kitagawa said.
Higher PC inventory in the first half of 2022 became a bottleneck for the PC market.
“Low PC supply caused by high demand and supply chain disruptions through 2021 quickly turned into an excess of supply once demand quickly and significantly slowed,” Gartner said in the report.
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