• Reports from research firms IDC and Canalys show another significant drop in PC shipments worldwide for Q1 2023.
• Even Apple was not immune to the downturn, seeing a massive 46 percent annual decline in one of the reports.
• “Weak demand, excess inventory, and a worsening macroeconomic climate,” are all cited as reasons for the continued slump for PCs.

Like many an industry in the wake of the global pandemic and increasingly volatile geopolitical situations, the shipment of PCs is suffering a serious slump. This was confirmed as much by research firms IDC and Canalys, both of which released reports looking at PC shipments for Q1 2023.

It does not make for good reading, as all vendors have seen declines compared to the same period as last year. Not even Apple was immune to the decline, seeing a massive 46 percent fall annually in the Canalys report, and 40.5 percent in the IDC one.

As such, it shows that no vendor has been able to effectively negotiate the current market conditions, which are only set to worsen over the coming quarters.

“Weak demand, excess inventory, and a worsening macroeconomic climate were all contributing factors for the precipitous drop in shipments of traditional PCs during the first quarter of 2023 (1Q23). Global shipments numbered 56.9 million, marking a contraction of 29.0% compared to the same quarter in 2022,” noted IDC in its preliminary report.

“The preliminary results also represented a coda to the era of COVID-driven demand and at least a temporary return to pre-COVID patterns. Shipment volume in 1Q23 was noticeably lower than the 59.2 million units shipped in 1Q19 and 60.6 million in 1Q18,” it added.

Looking a bit closer at its numbers, among the top five vendors, HP suffered the least, although it did see decline of 24.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

Apple saw the largest decline among the top five by some margin. This is notable given how much emphasis the company has placed in its silicon foundry of late, as well as announcing ver iterations of MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini, and other hardware with increasing regularity of late.

In terms of the two main product segments for the industry – notebooks and desktop PCs – the former shipped less according to Canalys.

“Of the product categories, notebook shipments suffered a large decline, falling 34% year-on-year to 41.8 million units. Desktop shipments performed slightly better, undergoing a 28% decline to 12.1 million units,” the research firm explained.

“Canalys expects Q1 2023 to represent the largest shipment decline for the worldwide PC market this year, with recovery to begin in the second half of this year and gather momentum in 2024,” it continued.

As for the outlook moving forward, optimism is in short supply. Here hopes are being pinned on ageing software, along with a potential economic upturn.

“By 2024, an aging installed base will start coming up for refresh,” noted Linn Huang, research vice president for Devices and Displays at IDC.

“If the economy is trending upwards by then, we expect significant market upside as consumers look to refresh, schools seek to replace worn down Chromebooks, and businesses move to Windows 11. If recession in key markets drags on into next year, recovery could be a slog,” he concluded.