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PC sales plummet

January 12, 2023.

Man unhappy about sinking sales.

© iStock.

The PC market is looking decidedly grim. Figures recently released by Canalys, IDC and Gartner show that worldwide sales in 2022 are way down. Gartner points to a year-over-year 28.5% slump in Q4, the largest quarterly decline since Gartner started tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s. In 2022, the sale of 286.2 million PC units amounted to a 16.2% decrease compared to 2021. “The anticipation of a global recession, increased inflation and higher interest rates have had a major impact on PC demand,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner. “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.”

According to IDC, large PC manufacturers saw unit sales fall off by 20.9% (for ASUS) and 37.2% (for Dell) compared to Q4 last year. One company stands out from the lot: Apple’s shortfall in sales was limited to 2.1%. Though Q4 results are particularly dire, sales figures for the entire calendar year are fairly similar to years before the health crisis. Analysts forecast that the market should rally late 2023 and certainly in 2024.

PC Shipments Q4 2022.

IDC, “PC shipments continued to slump during the holiday quarter with recovery now looking like 2024, according to IDC Tracker.”

Canalys, “Global PC shipments declined by 16% to 285 million in 2022.”

Gartner, “Gartner says worldwide PC shipments declined 28.5% in fourth quarter of 2022 and 16.2% for the year .”

2023-01-12