PC market shows signs of recovery with third consecutive quarter of growth

AI buzz and commercial demand is driving global PC market rebound

The global PC market is showing resilience, marking its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

According to preliminary results from Gartner, worldwide PC shipments reached 60.6 million units in the second quarter of 2024, representing a 1.9 per cent increase from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the International Data Corporation (IDC) reported even more optimistic figures, with shipments totalling 64.9 million units, indicating a 3 per cent year-over-year growth.

Mikako Kitagawa, director analyst at Gartner, stated: "The low year-on-year growth, together with stabilised sequential growth, indicates that the market is on the right track to recovery."

This sentiment was also echoed by Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's worldwide device trackers, who noted: "Two consecutive quarters of growth, combined with plenty of market hype around AI PCs and a less sexy but arguably more important commercial refresh cycle, seems to be what the PC market needed."

Regional Performance

The US PC market showed particular strength, with Gartner reporting the highest shipment volume since the third quarter of 2022, resulting in 3.4 per cent year-over-year growth.

The EMEA market also experienced growth, registering a 4.8 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, according to Gartner.

However, the Asia/Pacific market faced challenges, with Gartner reporting a 2.2 per cent year-over-year decline, primarily due to weakness in the Chinese market.

IDC noted that excluding China, worldwide shipments grew more than 5 per cent year over year.

Both reports showed similar trends in vendor rankings, with Lenovo maintaining its top position, followed by HP and Dell.

Apple and Acer rounded out the top five, with both companies showing significant growth compared to the previous year.

Emerging trends: AI PCs and market stabilisation

The PC industry has been making significant efforts to promote AI PCs, devices equipped with Neural Processing Units (NPUs).

While the demand for AI PCs has been slow to take off, industry analysts expect this category to gain traction in the coming months, especially in the commercial sector.

Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's worldwide mobile device trackers, highlighted another positive trend: "The market has also moved past the rock bottom pricing brought about by excess inventory last year, signifying growth in average selling prices due to richer configurations and reduced discounting."

Amid these early signs of recovery, analysts remain cautiously optimistic.

As Kitagawa from Gartner noted: "We continue to see no major supply chain issues, allowing for the market to be perfectly set up for continued growth with major platform updates on the horizon."

The PC market's recovery appears to be gaining momentum, driven by a combination of commercial refresh cycles, emerging technologies like AI PCs, and stabilising market conditions.