After seven consecutive quarters of declines, the PC market is recovering.
That’s according to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC), in its Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker released on Tuesday (July 9), which predicts that worldwide PC shipments will reach 64.9 million units in the second quarter of 2024, up 3% from last year.
IDC said that figure would have been even higher if not for sluggish sales in China. Excluding China, global shipments increased more than 5% year over year.
“To be clear, the PC market, like other technology markets, will face near-term challenges due to maturity and headwinds,” Ryan Rees, group vice president, Worldwide Device Trackers at IDC, said in a news release.
“But two consecutive quarters of growth, combined with market excitement around AI PCs and a less glamorous but arguably more important commercial refresh cycle, seems like just what the PC market needed. AI is obviously all the buzz, but there’s also a lot happening in non-AI PC buying to signal a positive outcome for this mature market.”
IDC noted that most industry players have recently begun to outline strategies for artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled personal computers (PCs), with a focus on the component side and commercial market potential.
“IDC believes that within the PC industry, the commercial market will see the greatest near-term benefits from AI, but the consumer story has yet to be fully told,” the release reads. “All eyes will be on Apple to get that message across with product announcements expected later this year, but it’s also important to note that Qualcomm, Intel and AMD are all likely to make waves with both consumer and commercial AI PCs.”
Lenovo took the top spot worldwide with 14.7 million PCs sold in the quarter, according to IDC data. Apple came in fourth with 5.7 million, posting the biggest turnaround with shipments up 20.8% year over year.
IDC’s figures follow a Morgan Stanley study from May which claimed Microsoft’s new AI-enabled personal computers could lead to a new wave of PC sales.
The report points to several factors that could drive PC sales in the second half of this year and into next year, including starting prices above $1,000, the commercial PC installed base being 13% higher than pre-pandemic, and the approaching end of Windows 10.
As PYMNTS noted earlier this year, Microsoft’s new “Copilot+ PC” is a new iteration of a Windows machine designed to handle generative AI processes locally, demonstrating that the company believes “the future of computing is driven by AI, and users want that intelligence at their fingertips, not in the cloud.”
