Global PC shipments suffer worst decline in two decades in September quarter: Gartner | Biden News

It was also the fourth consecutive quarter of decline in PC shipments, according to the Gartner report, which found that with the return to the office and the reopening of schools, demand for PCs weakened in both the consumer and enterprise segments.

“While supply chain disruptions have finally eased, high inventory has now become a major problem due to weak PC demand in both consumer and business markets,” said Mikako Kitagawa, director analyst at Gartner.

Kitagawa pointed out that the return to school ended with “disappointing results” despite many promotions and prices offered by sellers. He attributed this to the lack of demand as many consumers bought new computers in the last two years.

Similarly, on the business side, companies have been much more selective in their IT spending due to geopolitical and economic uncertainties. “Computers were not at the top of the priority list.”

The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region was the biggest contributor, with a decline of between 26.4% in the September quarter, accounting for 17 million units. This is the third negative quarter for the EMEA region, according to Gartner.

Kitagawa attributed the decline in demand to challenging macroeconomic conditions in Europe and the war in Ukraine.

“Many PC vendors closed operations in Russia in the first two quarters of this year, which negatively impacted overall shipments and is particularly visible among YoY comparisons,” he added.

PC shipments in the Asia-Pacific PC market decreased by 16.6% YoY, mainly due to a blockade in China that slowed business operations and subsequently PC demand in consumer and government and enterprise segments. Meanwhile, the US PC market declined for the fifth straight quarter by 17.3% in September.

In terms of computer market share, Dell with 26.8% of all computer shipments was the leading seller in the September quarter, followed by HP (23.2%), Apple (16%), Lenovo (15.8%) and Acer (5.8%). .

Although Dell’s laptop shipments declined in all regions except Japan, its desktop shipments grew year-on-year in all regions except Asia-Pacific. HP also suffered a sharp decline in laptop shipments even as desktop shipments grew in select regions. Similarly, Lenovo’s overall PC shipments also declined, but its desktop shipments in EMEA grew after the company started production at its new manufacturing facility in Hungary in June.