The PC market appears to be overcoming the slump in 2023 and showing a slight recovery in shipments.

Gartner announced on the 22nd the results of a preliminary survey showing that worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of last year totaled 64.4 million units. This is a 1.4% increase from the same period last year, and the total annual PC shipments reached 245.4 million units, a 1.3% increase from 2023.

According to preliminary research by Gartner, the estimated global PC shipments in 2024 are as follows by vendor: Lenovo 62.49 million units, HP 53.02 million units, Dell 39.44 million units, Apple 22.45 million units, ASUS 17.39 million units, Acer 16.92 million units, and others 33.61 million units.

“Despite rising expectations for AI PC adoption and expected increased demand for Windows 11 PC replacements, the global PC market grew only slightly last quarter,” said Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner. “Consumers were hesitant to purchase AI PCs due to high prices, and economic uncertainty in some regions, including China and parts of Europe, continued to hinder PC market growth.”

On the other hand, he predicted that “as the replacement period for Windows 11 PCs approaches and the use cases for AI PCs become more abundant, business value will increase, and PC demand will recover and the market will show solid growth this year.”

Gartner explained that while the rankings of the top six suppliers in the fourth quarter of last year were the same as last year, namely Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple, ASUS, and Acer, their performances showed mixed results. △Lenovo △Apple △Asus △Acer recorded growth compared to the previous year, while △HP △Dell showed a slight decline.
Lenovo achieved its fifth consecutive quarter of growth, growing 4.2 percent year-over-year. The slowdown in China has had an impact on overall PC demand, particularly Lenovo, which has China as its largest market.

The US PC market is growing. The fourth quarter of 2024 grew 3.5% year-over-year, and Atwal, a senior director analyst, said, “PC demand was not shaken by the stable macroeconomic conditions in the US, and there was also strong demand for PCs in the public sector.” He also analyzed, “In addition, the recovery of the corporate market and the unprecedented discounts during the holiday shopping season boosted consumer demand.”

Meanwhile, desktop shipments in the Asia Pacific market have declined overall, but notebook shipments are said to have remained at the same level as the same period last year. The PC market, which peaked at about 340 million units in 2021, is expected to recover in 2023, the weakest in the past 10 years, with shipments of 242.3 million units, to 245.4 million units in 2024.