The global PC market ended 2022 on a low note, with total shipments of desktops and notebooks falling 29% to 65.4 million units in the fourth quarter, according to figures from Canalys. The decline follows the boom in PC sales during the pandemic, but overall, the delivery volumes for personal computers in 2022 were still 7% higher than in 2019.
Canalys attributes the downturn in the global PC market to increasing consumer restraint, as inflation and rising prices for essentials make consumers hesitant to make expensive new purchases such as PCs, and the replacement of older computers is being postponed. A sales channel survey conducted by Canalys in December 2022 found that 60% of retailers expect their PC sales to stagnate or decline in 2023.
The decline was particularly sharp for laptops, with notebook sales falling 30% to 51.4 million laptops in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 19% to 223.8 million for the full year. In desktops, Canalys saw a 24% decline to 14.1 million desktop computers in the fourth quarter and a 7% decline to 61.3 million computers for all of 2022.
However, Canalys sees the long-term prospects for the PC market as positive, with the market expected to pick up again from the end of 2023 and the positive momentum increasing from 2024. In education, Canalys expects demand to surge in key markets as devices installed during the pandemic period reach the end of their life cycle.
Among PC manufacturers, Lenovo secured the top spot in the PC market with a total of 15.5 million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2022, followed by HP Inc. at number two with 13.2 million PCs shipped and Dell at number three with 10.8 million computers. Apple had comparatively better performance, with a decline of 7.5% in Q4/2022 and 6.2% for the full year. Asus closes the top five with a moderate -4% over the year.
