Beancounters at Canalys have added up some numbers and found that global PC shipments fell by 15 percent in the second quarter mostly because of Chinese production issues.
The decrease took the market back to its lowest level since the pandemic began to take hold in the first quarter of 2020.
Laptops suffered an 18.6 percent drop, with consumers showing more caution with inflation and the cost of living causing some falls in demand. Desktops fared better, with a 0.6 per ent increase, driven by commercial spending on hardware.
Canalys analyst Emma Xu said that the Covid lockdowns in key regions and cities of China throughout most of the second quarter severely affected the manufacturing and export of PCs. Disruption to factory and port operations in Shanghai, Kunshan and Jiangsu led to significant delays in orders for all the major PC vendors. Though production and coordination started to improve by the end of May, output was below normal levels throughout the second quarter.
Lenovo is the market leader followed by Dell and HP. Cost-of-living concerns have had an impact on demand, particularly from consumers, and those market conditions are not looking like easing anytime soon.
Canalys senior analyst Ishan Dutt said. “While the importance of having a top-quality device hasn’t diminished, most PC owners with relatively basic computing needs will be content to ride out this period of economic uncertainty and opt to refresh their devices when the pressure on their budgets eases or if significant discounting by vendors and retailers occurs later in the year.
“Businesses are also facing the threats of inflation and rising interest rates, but investment in PCs and IT at large remains vital to digital transformation as part of post-Covid recovery. Vendors with strong commercial reputations, deep channel partnerships and portfolios geared toward high-performance business use cases will be best placed to mitigate the challenges facing the PC industry this year.”
