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Traditional PC sales boom as market resets
After a decade of falling sales, the Covid pandemic has seen traditional PC sales reach the highest level in that time.
IDC reports total PC shipments reached 349 million in 2021. That’s up almost 15 percent on shipments in 2020. Reports from rival analyst companies Gartner and Canalys confirm double digit sales growth for the year.
It is the highest demand for traditional PCs since 2012.
The Wall Street Journal reports that even the desktop computer is making a comeback.
People who
work from home want bigger screens and more powerful
systems.
Apple silicon project pays off
Apple had a strong year thanks to pent-up demand for new M1 MacBooks. Both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models flew out the door.
In the quarter the updated iMac went on sale, orders jumped 23 percent.
The company’s market share hit 8.2 percent, the highest in a long time.
Dell
and Asus both had strong years relative to the broader
market. Dell saw shipments grow almost 9 percent while Asus
was up 12.5 percent. Market leaders Lenovo
and HP slipped a fraction as rivals caught up.
Return to form for traditional PC
Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers says: “2021 has truly been a return to form for the PC. Consumer need for PCs in emerging markets and global commercial demand remained strong during the quarter with supply being a gating factor.
"While consumer and educational demand has tapered in some developed markets, we continue to believe the overall PC market has reset at a much higher level than before the pandemic.”
This reset
has brought a fresh set of problems for the industry:
dealing with the logistic challenge of meeting demand while
there are bottlenecks and supply shortages. Gartner
saw this as a hiccup in the third quarter.
Could have been better
IDC’s Tom Mainelli says the market could have been even larger in 2021 without those issues.
He says: “We closed the year with many buyers still waiting for their PC orders to ship. As we move through the first half of the year, we expect supply to remain constrained, especially … the commercial segment where demand is the most robust.”
IDC - Growth Streak for Traditional PCs Continues During Holiday Quarter of 2021
Traditional PC sales boom as market resets was first posted at billbennett.co.nz.
Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
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