Global PC Market Continues Slide on 'Cautious Spending': Canalys

The worldwide PC market had its fifth consecutive year-on-year decline in Q3, as shipments fell 14% to 105.6 million, reported Canalys Wednesday. The category had a 1% sequential increase from Q2, which had a major supply disruption due to COVID-19 lockdowns in China. Demand in all categories and user segments was “stifled by worsening macroeconomic conditions” and a “cautious approach” to spending by consumers and enterprise customers, said the research firm. Apple was the only PC maker to record a year-on-year shipment increase in Q3, growing 1.5% to 23.4 million, for 22.2% market share, Canalys said. Lenovo shipments dropped 20.6% to 19.4 million for 18.4% share. HP units tumbled 27.9% to 12.7 million, Dell shipments were off 21.1% to 12 million, and Samsung PCs slipped 12.9% to 7.3 million shipments, it said. Chromebook shipments plunged 29% to 4.2 million, with Acer the only company to grow shipments in Q3, at 11.3% to 1.1 million units. HP Chromebook shipments fell 26.8% to 802,000, Lenovo’s plummeted 49.7% to 768,000, and Dell’s decreased 10.9% to 752,000. Education demand saturation “continued to take its toll,” said analyst Brian Lynch, saying vendors have “struggled to find growth opportunities in other segments while managing high inventory levels.” Tablets dropped 6% to 35.3 million units, said the report. Amazon’s heavy discounting on Fire tablets during Prime Day fueled a 17.9% shipment increase to 3.2 million, for 9.1% market share. Tablet leader Apple had a 5.6% drop in iPad shipments to 14.4 million, for 40.7% share, and Samsung tablet shipments fell 8.3% to 6.6 million, 18.7% share, it said.