PC Shipments Declined in 3Q24

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 62.9 million units in the third quarter of 2024, a 1.3% YoY decline, according to preliminary results by Gartner. This decline comes after three consecutive quarters of growth for the PC market.

“Even with a full lineup of Windows-based AI PCs for both Arm and x86 in the third quarter of 2024, AI PCs did not boost the demand for PCs since buyers have yet to see their clear benefits or business value,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner. “Additionally, the demand for the Windows PC refresh driven by the end of Windows 10 support in 2025 did not fully pick up during the third quarter, partly due to economic challenges in certain regions. Despite the year-over-year decline in the third quarter, the PC market is still on a recovery track. At the worldwide level, PC demand will see more uptake toward the end of 2024 and more robust growth in 2025, when the PC refresh will be at its peak.”

There were no changes in the top five vendor rankings compared to the third quarter of 2023. Lenovo, HP, Apple, and Acer experienced growth, while Dell and ASUS declined in shipments. The US market grew 5.6%, with over 17 million PCs shipped, driven by continued stable macroeconomic conditions. The EMEA PC market experienced its first quarter of decline after three consecutive quarters of growth, decreasing 1.5%. The Asia/Pacific declined 8.5%, mainly due to continued weak market demand in China. The market in China declined 10% primarily due to weakened demand for desktop PCs from government and state-owned enterprises. Japan recorded its first double-digit PC shipments growth in three years.