Component shortages and logistics problems continue to have an impact on desktops, laptops and workstations, with the U.S. market seeing its first decline since the beginning of the pandemic in the third quarter, according to IDC.
The U.S. saw a 7.5% decline in traditional PC shipments in the third quarter compared to a year ago, according to a preliminary tally, an IDC spokesman told Fierce Electronics.
“After a year of accelerated buying driven by the shift to remote work and learning, there’s also been a comparative slowdown in PC spending and that has caused some softening of the U.S. PC market today,” said Neha Mahajan, senior research analyst for devices at displays at IDC, in a statement.
“Yet, supply clearly remains behind demand in key segments with inventory still below normal levels,” she added.
Some vendors are reprioritizing shipments among various markets and emerging markets are maintaining growth momentum while some of the mature markets like the U.S. are slowing. “The PC industry continues to be hampered by supply and logistical challenges and unfortunately these issues have not seen much improvement in recent months,” added Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s mobile and consumer device trackers.
On a global basis, the overall PC market was up by nearly 4% in the third quarter, but growth was modest for some vendors and even down nearly 6% for HP. Still HP finished second with 17.5 million and 20% market share, behind first place Lenovo with 19.7 million and nearly 23% market share—an improvement of 3% over a year ago.
Dell managed to peg 26% growth over the third quarter of 2020, with 15 million PCs shipped, or 17% of the market. Apple finished fourth with nearly 10% growth and 9% of the market, with 7.6 million laptops, desktops and workstations shipped.
The total across the globe for the third quarter was 86.7 million units in the third quarter, the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for the PC market even though it was sluggish. The pandemic caused a surge in demand while also contributing to component shortages and other supply challenges.
Components cover a wide range of products used in PCs, everything from chips to displays. Many analysts feel components shortages will ease in six to nine months, but some estimates put relief in 2023 depending on the industry affected. Some chipmakers have said demand for many categories of chips outweighs supply by 2 to 1.
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