PC shipments fell 5.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period a year ago, according to industry analysts IDC. However, although the decline is significant, shipments still exceeded forecasts.
Overall, 80.5 million desktops, notebooks, and workstations were shipped in the first quarter of the year, down from 84.8 million in the same quarter of 2021. However, this was the seventh consecutive quarter in which shipments exceeded 80 million units, a feat the industry has not achieved since 2012.
Last quarter’s performance ended two years of double-digit growth as the PC sector benefited from the shift to remote work triggered by the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
“The focus shouldn’t be on the year-over-year decline in PC volumes because that was to be expected. The focus should be on the PC industry managing to ship more than 80 million PCs at a time when logistics and supply chain are still a mess, accompanied by numerous geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president of IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
Lenovo shipped the most devices with 18.3 million units, a decrease of 9.2 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, representing a market share of 22.7 per cent.
HP trails Lenovo with 15.8 million shipments, down 17.8 per cent from a year earlier, giving it a 19.7 per cent market share.
Dell, on the other hand, recorded another strong quarter, with sales up 6.1 per cent over the same period in 2021 to 13.7 million units, representing a market share of 17.1 per cent.
Despite a smaller market share, Apple also had a strong first quarter as the tech giant’s Mac sales grew 4.3 per cent to 7.2 million devices, representing a market share of 8.9 per cent.
Asus shipments rose an impressive 17.7 per cent to 5.5 million units, giving it a share of 6.9 per cent, while Acer shipments totaled 5.4 million for a market share of 6.8 per cent. The company saw its shipments decline by 5.9 per cent, leaving Asus to eclipse it in total shipments.
Despite declining sales, the sector remained robust, with Lenovo reporting revenues of US$20 billion in the third quarter of last year, 88 per cent of which came from sales of its PCs, smartphones and other devices. Similarly, Dell and HP reported strong sales in the final quarter of 2021, with the former reporting revenue growth of 16.9 per cent to US$27.9 billion, and the latter a 13 per cent increase in revenue to US$11.8 billion over the same period last year.