HardwareAnalysts are calling 2023’s decline in PC shipments ‘unparalleled in the industry’s recorded history’ but suggest the only way now is upWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareAnalysts are calling 2023’s decline in PC shipments ‘unparalleled in the industry’s recorded history’ but suggest the only way now is upWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Razer)
There’s nothing like a bit of heart-warming, cheery news to start a new year but the PC shipment estimates for 2023, from market analysts IDC and Gartner, are anything but cheery. The total number of units shipped varies between the two groups, with IDC estimating just under 260 million, whereas Gartner puts it at around 242 million. That’s 14% down from last year and, while the market is settling down from the Covid era of tech sales, the figures pale in comparison to those seen ten years ago.
But even taking all that into account, it’s not exactly pleasant reading for the PC industry.Gartner estimates that a total of 241.9 million units were shipped in 2023, whereas IDC is less conservative in its estimates, with its total being 259.5 million. That’s quite a big difference in terms of raw figures (just how does one miscount 17.6 million PCs?) but compared to the total,IDC’s estimate is only 7% larger than Gartner’s.
Overall, that’s a 14% decline in PC shipments compared to 2022 and for some vendors, it’s been an even rougher year.
PC sales overall have been declining since 2021 but the industry was flush with success due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing millions of people worldwide to work from home and turn to the humble PC for work, entertainment, shopping, and even exercising.
However, go back a decade in Gartner’s reports and you’ll see that PC shipments were even higher in 2012, reaching just over 350 million units (with IDC estimating it to be 349 million figure).
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The performance gains seen in successive CPU architectures are generally so small now, that unless you need a very specific feature or aspect of the latest designs, a chip from five or six years ago will still be more than good enough now.
And there’s the lack of a ‘killer app’ for PCs: In the nineties, it was Windows 95 and in the first decade of the millennium, the massive expansion of fast internet, media streaming, and PC gaming all helped boost sales.
Taking all of that into account and it’s not hard to see why fewer people and organisations are buying new machines.
As for why shipments were so much lower in 2023, Gartner says that “[t]he PC market has hit the bottom of its decline after significant adjustment. Inventory was normalized in the fourth quarter of 2023, which had been an issue plaguing the industry for two years.”
Your next machine(Image credit: Future)Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Your next machine
(Image credit: Future)Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
(Image credit: Future)
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Both agree that the decline will stop and bottom out, and despite expected hikes in the prices of PC components, shipments in 2024 are expected to rise again. It may well just be my imagination, but I’m sure I’ve read such words before so who knows what we really happen.
Whether any of it makes any difference is anyone’s guess but the latter may well be the killer feature the industry has been missing for some time.Some AI features do look really useful, though there’s quite a lot that we’d avoid like a ten week old cookie.
I think I’ve read about thedeath of the PCever since…well…forever. It’s still going strong, though, and 240 million brand new PCs in one year isn’t exactly chump change. Methinks the soothsayers doth protest too much.
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