First quarter PC shipments robust despite decline from 2021

According to IDC industry analysts, PC shipments decreased by 5.1% in Q1 2022. This is compared to the same time last year. Although the drop is significant, shipments still outperformed forecasts.

Overall, 80.5 millions desktops, notebooks and workstations shipped in the first quarter, a drop of 84.8 mil in the quarter ended 2021. This was however the seventh consecutive quarter that shipments have exceeded 80 million units. This feat has been missing since 2012.

Last quarter’s performance ended two years of double-digit growth as the PC sector benefited from the shift to remote work triggered by the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“The focus shouldn’t be on the year-over-year decline in PC volumes because that was to be expected. The focus should be on the PC industry managing to ship more than 80 million PCs at a time when logistics and supply chain are still a mess, accompanied by numerous geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president of IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

Lenovo shipped 18.3 million devices, an 8.2% decrease compared to the previous quarter. This represents a 22.7 percent market share.

With 15.8 million shipped, HP trails Lenovo by 17.8%, which gives it a 19.7% market share.

Dell on the other side, however, had another strong quarter with sales increasing by 6.1 percent over the same period 2021 to 13.7million units. This represents a 17.1 per cent market share.

Despite a smaller market share, Apple also had a strong first quarter as the tech giant’s Mac sales grew 4.3 per cent to 7.2 million devices, representing a market share of 8.9 per cent.

The shipments of Asus rose 17.7 percent to 5.5 millions units. This gives it a share 6.9%. Acer’s shipments were 5.4 million, which is 6.8%. The company’s shipments fell by 5.9%, leaving Asus to surpass it in total shipments.

Despite declining sales, the sector continued to be strong. Lenovo reported revenues of US$20 Billion in the third-quarter of last year. 88% came from sales of its smartphones, computers, and other devices. In the final quarter 2021, both Dell and HP reported strong sales, with the former reporting revenue growth rates of 16.9% to US$27.9 Billion and the latter reporting a 13% increase in revenue to US$11.8 Billion over the same period last.