Global PC demand sees its deepest collapse since mid-90s amid recession fears: Gartner

Global recession fears, increased inflation and higher interest rates have had a major impact on PC demand and global PC shipments logged 65.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022, a 28.5 per cent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2021, a report showed on Thursday.

According to Gartner, this marks the largest quarterly shipment decline since Gartner began tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s.

For the entire year, PC shipments reached 286.2 million units in 2022, a 16.2 per cent decrease from 2021.

"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," said Mikako Kitagawa, director analyst.

The enterprise PC market is also being impacted by a slowing economy.

"PC demand among enterprises began declining in the third quarter of 2022, but the market has now shifted from softness to deterioration," said Kitagawa.

Enterprise buyers are extending PC lifecycles and delaying purchases, meaning the business market will likely not return to growth until 2024.

While Lenovo maintained 24 per cent market share at the top, the company experienced its steepest decline. Lenovo's shipments fell in all regions except in Japan, declining over 30 per cent in EMEA and Latin America.

HP and Dell also experienced historically steep declines. HP was hit hardest in the EMEA market, where shipments decreased 44 per cent year-over-year.

For Dell, weak demand in the large business market impacted shipments in the second half of 2022.

The Asia-Pacific market excluding Japan declined 29.4 per cent year-over-year, mainly due to the market in China.

"The PC industry experienced very unusual ups and downs over the past 11 years. After the extraordinary growth period between 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the market has clearly begun a downward trend which will continue until the beginning of 2024," said Kitagawa.

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