PC shipments surge back to Pre-pandemic levels in Q1 2024

When the pandemic hit, everything changed. The world’s economy was standing still, and it has been a couple of years, but we are still recovering from the losses it left behind, trying to get back to normal every day, whether it is the PC market or day-to-day life.

Speaking of the PC market, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker‘s latest report:

 After two years of decline, the worldwide traditional PC market returned to growth during the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) with 59.8 million shipments, growing 1.5% year over year.

So, after two years of consecutive decline, the global conventional PC market, which includes desktops, workstations, and notebooks, exhibited growth during the first quarter of 2024.

However, it is worth noting that the market experienced a steep decline of 28.7% in the first quarter of 2023, marking it the lowest point in PC history.

Apart from the growth this year, global PC shipments managed to return to pre-pandemic levels in Q1 2024. In the first quarter of 2019,  60.5 million units were shipped worldwide.

Inflation is going down in most parts of the world, like America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Therefore, PC shipments have started to recover. However, the same could not be said about China, which has impacted China and the global market.

As China is the largest consumer of desktop PCs, weak demand from the region could cause a decline in the percentage of global desktop shipments in the next quarter.

Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said:

“Despite China’s struggles, the recovery is expected to continue in 2024 as newer AI PCs hit shelves later this year and as commercial buyers begin refreshing the PCs that were purchased during the pandemic. Along with growth in shipments, AI PCs are also expected to carry higher price tags, providing further opportunity for PC and component makers.

Here are the details of the top 5 companies, globally in terms of shipments(millions of units), market share, and growth comparing quarter 1 of 2024 and quarter 1 of 2023:

With that said significant developments are expected in 2024 and beyond. The emergence of AI-powered PCs, the retirement of Windows 10, the introduction of new powerful processors, and more. We hope these hold the potential to bolster PC sales in the years to come.

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