Analyst Groups Report ‘Largest’ PC Shipment Decline Following Pandemic Recovery

PC shipments are on the decline, and what a decline it is.

Analyst groups Gartner for High Tech and the International Data Corporation (IDC) have recently found an approximately 28% drop in PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2022, the largest quarterly shipment decline since the mid-1990s.

Both companies predict a difficult year ahead for PC makers, but "pockets of opportunity" may arise for them to capitalize on within the year.

Q4 PC Shipment Decline Findings

Gartner and the IDC mentioned in their respective reports that PC shipments within the fourth quarter of 2022 fell by 28.5% compared to the same period in 2021, marking the largest quarterly shipment decline since the mid-1990s.

Take Lenovo, HP, and Dell's PC shipments as evidence of the decline. According to Engadget, the three PC makers saw their shipments slump between 29% and 37% in late 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, Acer saw a 41% decrease in PC shipments, and Apple, the luckiest of them all, only experienced a 10% shipment decrease.

The reports found a variety of factors that led to the decline, and one of them is the ongoing global recession. According to Gartner Director Analyst Mikako Kitagawa, most people have relatively new PCs, which were purchased during the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You may remember that governments worldwide mandated people to stay in their homes to "flatten the curve," forcing people to purchase PCs, tablets, and other consumer tech products to work and study at home.

In addition to this factor, the recession made PCs unaffordable for the average joe, superseding any motivation to buy one over basic necessities.

The same can be said about the enterprise PC market, which saw its demand for PC decline in the third quarter of 2022. Kitagawa further explained that Enterprise buyers are extending PC lifecycles and delaying purchases to avoid buying new ones at a time when they lack affordability.

The IDC's findings agree with Garter's in terms of the factors leading to the decline, with the firm saying that the "pandemic boom" is over for the PC market due to people having relatively new PCs and the global recession affecting PC prices.

Is There Hope For Recovery In 2023?

Despite these grim tidings, IDC said that PC shipments in 2022 are still "well above" pre-pandemic figures, meaning that the PC market is still stronger than before thanks to the lingering effects of the pandemic boom.

Unfortunately, the PC market will keep on experiencing a decline until 2024, with only "pockets of opportunity" for growth in 2023. This claim is evidenced by the supply side activity showing many large vendors reaching a consensus that portions of the PC market will experience minor growth in late 2023 before getting a major one in 2024.

In the mean time, however, PC makers may have to endure price cuts and the creation of new designs to create and sustain interest in PCs to make 2024 their year.