Global PC shipments declined in Q3 2023, with Apple and Dell taking the biggest hit

A new report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) covering Q3 2023 doesn't paint a very positive picture of the ongoing recovery of the PC market. However, PC shipments in previous quarters have slowed the annual decline rate. Per the report, PC shipments in Q3 2023 declined 7.6% year-over-year, which covers 68.2 million PCs for the three months.

2

Global PC market share as of Q3 2023, image credit: IDC.

On the plus side, PC inventory looks healthy in 2023; channels aren't overstocked with supply due to the lessened demand. The report highlights increased pressure from the consumer and business space to lower prices. The PC shipments outlined in the report cover desktops, notebooks, and workstations - excluding tablets and x86 servers.

The top five PC makers experienced significant negative growth outside of HP, which experienced 6.4% growth and an overall increase in market share. Apple saw the biggest hit to growth with -23.1% for the quarter, followed by Dell with -14.3% growth.

However, with the result being an overall drop in market share for Dell, previous quarter results from Apple helped it maintain a bigger market share than last year. Regarding overall market share, Lenovo remains on top with 23.5% of the PC market, followed by HP, Dell, Apple, and ASUS.

Although the report is cautiously optimistic about the future, the caveat is that "the PC industry will unfortunately experience more pain."

"The PC industry is on a slow path to recovery as a device refresh cycle, and the end of support for Windows 10 will help drive sales in the second half of 2024 and beyond. In the meantime, the PC industry will unfortunately experience more pain," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "The slowness in the industry is giving the supply chain an opportunity to explore procurement and production options outside China. This will likely remain a key issue going forward, second only to the advancement of AI within PCs."

AI could be the savior - just like it has been for the discrete GPU market and the recent fortunes of NVIDIA.

"Generative AI could be a watershed moment for the PC industry," said Linn Huang, research vice president of Devices & Displays at IDC. "While use cases have yet to be fully articulated, interest in the category is already strong. AI PCs promise organizations the ability to personalize the user experience at a deeper level while preserving data privacy and sovereignty. As more of these devices launch next year, we expect a significant boost to overall selling prices."