UK PC market grows more than two per cent in Q4

Increase led by seasonal uplifts despite challenges across the market

The European PC market experienced a slight growth in the final quarter of 2024, according to global market intelligence firm CONTEXT.

This upwards change was driven by consumer demand over the pre-Christmas period, making December the strongest month in Q4 with results seven per cent higher than last year, despite the overall market being under pressure.

This increase was also greatly helped by a weak performance last year.

According to the recent findings, revenue across notebooks, desktops, and tablets went up during this quarter, showing a three per cent aggregated revenue rise compared to the same period in 2023, with desktops outperforming notebooks (growing by five per cent compared to three per cent), especially in Spain, Germany and Poland.

In Europe, Spain was the strongest-growing top market this quarter, experiencing a 13.5 per cent growth thanks to government-led digitalisation efforts.

The UK went through a small 2.3 increase this quarter, after the country benefitted from a rebound in consumer demand through e-tail channels.

This analysis follows predictions from IBM, stating that the global PC market was set to increase in 2024.

“The final quarter of the year saw a small but meaningful increase in PC revenues, driven by promotional activities during the holiday season as well as local government initiatives in the commercial segment,” said Marie-Christine Pygott, senior analyst at CONTEXT.

“Amongst the largest European markets, Spain stood out as the strongest-growing country in Q4 as its commercial sector benefitted from the ongoing Digital Kit Initiative, which now includes devices.

“The UK was the top performer in December due to a surge in consumer e-tail sales, bolstered by seasonal discounts and promotions.

“However, while these gains are encouraging, the overall European performance remains modest, reflecting the challenges the industry continues to face.”

Looking into AI

Meanwhile, AI-capable notebooks rose to 32 per cent in Q4 FY24 (compared to 22 per cent in Q4 2023).

The firm expects the adoption rate to keep increasing in 2025.

The share of Copilot+ PCs within the AI-capable segment also went up compared to last year, growing from three per cent to five per cent over the same period.

“It is early days for the next-generation AI PCs, or Copilot+ PCs, and adoption rates are still trailing initial projections,” said Pygott.

“While price reductions helped stimulate some interest in Q4, the value proposition of these devices still needs to be communicated more effectively to users.

“As the concept matures, awareness grows and a greater range of price points is being addressed, we expect adoption rates to increase in 2025.”

In addition to these results, analyst house Gartner recently predicted that the shipments of AI PCs will climb by 165.5 per cent in 2025.