Global PC market faces worst shipment decline since mid-1990 in Q4 2022: Gartner report

The global PC market saw its largest quarterly shipment decline since the mid-1990s in the last three months of 2022, said Gartner in its preliminary results, released on Thursday. The total PC shipments during the quarter were down 28.5% year-on-year (YoY) to 65.3 million, while the annual total shipments declined by 16.2% to 286.2 million units.

Annual reports by other market researchers such as International Data Corporation (IDC) and Canalys, also released this week, showed a similar pattern of decline. For instance, IDC found that global PC shipments fell below expectations in the December quarter. 

According to IDC, 67.2 million PCs were shipped during the quarter at a 28.1% YoY decline. 

Analysts at Gartner said that most users have new PCs that they bought during the pandemic for remote and hybrid work, as a result, the motivation to buy is much lower. 

“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 at Gartner. 

Kitagawa also noted that the fear of a global recession, increased inflation, and higher interest rates have also impacted demand for PCs. Even enterprise buyers have decided to delay purchases due to these factors. 

“The business market will likely not return to growth until 2024,” added Kitagawa. 

Jitesh Urbani, research manager at IDC, pointed out that this is despite the fact that average selling prices (ASP) of PCS have fallen due to excessive inventory which forced PC vendors to offer heavy discounts. 

Going forward, inventory management of PCs and components will be a major concern for PC vendors this year and will impact ASPs further, added Urbani. 

That said, Ryan Reith, group vice president at IDC, noted that the PC market has the potential to recover in 2024 with some pockets of growth also expected in late 2023. 

Market research firm Canalys in its report had identified gaming and connected PCs as some of the segments which will continue to grow.