PC shipments drop 8% in Q1 2020, even with COVID-19 shelter-in-place

According to a new report from research firm Canalys, PC shipments are way down this quarter and it's all because of COVID-19.

The report sees companies shipping 53.7 million PCs (desktops, notebooks and workstations) worldwide in Q1 2020, which is an 8% drop in same period of 2019. But Q1 2020 and its 8% drop is the largest decline in PC shipments in a few years now, with the above chart from Canalys showing a 12% drop in Q1 2016.

The data shows that Lenovo came out on top with 12.8 million systems shipped, HP wasn't far behind with 10.4 million, and Dell in third place with 10.4 million. Apple is a huge drop below that with 3.2 million shipped, while Acer shipped 3.1 million -- "others" covers all the other brands and makes up 12.3 million systems shipped in Q1 2020.

Some would think that with the current shelter-in-place lockdowns and quarantines worldwide, that PC shipments would've increased with everyone staying at home -- but it appears not. The big thing here is that Lenovo, HP, and Dell commanded 33 million units between them -- but this is a huge drop from 39 million in the same quarter of last year.

Apple had the largest drop between Q1 2020 and Q1 2019, where this year they sold 3.2 million units but compared to 2019 where they sold 4 million that is a 21% drop year-over-year.