PC shipments drop 28% in Q4 2022

PC shipments fell below analyst expectations in the fourth quarter of 2022, with PC makers shipping 67.2 million computers, down 28.1% from the same quarter last year, according to IDC’s preliminary results released on Tuesday.

The decline in the fourth quarter followed a 15% decline in the third quarter. For the year as a whole, shipments are down 15.6%.

IDC said it was clear that the PC market’s pandemic buying boom was over, but it noted that despite recent declines, PC shipments for the whole year were above pre-pandemic levels.

“Back-to-back quarterly declines clearly paint a bleak picture for the PC market, but it’s all about perception,” Ryan Reith, group vice president of IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said in a statement. “2021 was near historic levels for PC shipments, so any comparison is going to be skewed.”

But the market research firm expressed optimism about the PC market’s near future, saying “the market has the potential to recover in 2024 and we also see pockets of opportunity throughout 2023. “.

Lenovo retained its PC market crown during the quarter by shipping 15.5 million units for a 23% market share. Yet its shipments were down more than 28% from the year-ago period. HP No. 2 saw a slightly larger drop in shipments, at 29%, while Dell No. 3 fell 37%.

Apple is the only computer maker that appears to emerge from the quarter largely unscathed. The Mac maker grabbed the fourth spot by shipping 7.5 million units, down 2.1% from the same quarter in 2021.