When you look at the worldwide PC sales data for the fourth quarter of canalys, IDC Y Gartnerit’s fair to say that the news was not good, with all three companies seeing precipitous declines from 2021 highs.
In fact, the numbers plummeted for the fourth consecutive quarter, with sales falling 28% according to IDC, 28.5% according to Gartner and 29% according to Canalys. These numbers include laptops and desktops running Windows, macOS, or Chrome operating systems.
The yearly totals told a similar story with all three companies declining around -16% year-over-year. But IDC analyst Ryan Reith noted that it may not be as bleak as those numbers suggest because it was coming off a stellar 2021.
In a statement, Reith said: “2021 was close to record levels for PC shipments, so any comparison will be distorted. When we look back at this moment, there is no doubt that the rise and fall of the PC market will be one for the record books, but there are still many opportunities ahead.
In terms of units shipped for the fourth quarter, Gartner reported 65.3 million units with Canalys coming in at 65.4 million units and IDC at 67.2 million units.
There were no real winners in the fourth quarter without a single manufacturer in positive territory. The best he could hope for were minimal losses, and in most cases, all three companies reported double-digit losses across the board.
Apple had the fewest red ink across all three reports, with Gartner reporting -10.1%, Canalys reporting a -7.5% growth rate compared to last year, with IDC coming in at a more modest -2.1% rate. The news only got worse from there.
Among the top three PC makers, Dell was the biggest loser in all three reports, losing about 37%. After that it was HP at -29% and Lenovo at around -28%. Those are big declines, regardless of the reason.
Image Credits: IDC
Image Credits: canalys
Image Credits: Gartner
The fourth-quarter numbers are particularly troubling because the holidays often represent a time when sales rise and manufacturers tried hard to boost sales with price cuts, but to no avail. Gartner reported that it was the largest drop they had seen in a quarter since it began tracking these numbers in the mid-1990s.
What does all this mean for next year? Overall, despite the uncertain economic outlook, analysts are cautiously optimistic that we will start to see a rebound later in the year, or early 2024 at the latest.
“Once businesses and consumers weather the storm, we expect delayed purchases to start driving the market in late 2023, with momentum picking up in 2024,” Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt said in a statement.
That’s also in line with IDC’s thinking, which predicts a rebound in 2024 with some pockets of recovery next year, while Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa predicts the malaise could continue into early 2024.
While the market has taken a hit this year, it’s important to understand these numbers in context, and it appears that despite the precipitous drops in percentages year-over-year, compared to numbers before the close in 2020, the big picture it’s something more positive.
