The global personal computer market ended the year 2022 with a significant decline, as total shipments of desktop computers and laptops decreased by 29 percent to 65.4 million units in the fourth quarter of last year.
This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of decline where holiday spending was weak amid a deteriorating economic environment. This decline led to an estimate of total shipments for the full year of 2022 at 285.1 million units, which is down 16 percent from the highs in 2021 when all end-user segments experienced peak demand.
However, shipment numbers remain favorable compared to pre-pandemic, especially with total 2022 shipments up 7 percent compared to 2019.
Laptops experienced a larger decline compared to desktop computers, as shipments decreased by 30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 51.4 million units, and by 19 percent to 223.8 million units for the full year. As for desktop computers, they suffered a decline of 24 percent to 14.1 million units in the fourth quarter, and a decrease of 7 percent to 61.3 million units in the whole of 2022.
“As expected, the global PC market faced more headwinds in the fourth quarter to complement a difficult 2022,” said Ishan Dutt, senior analyst at Canalys. “Even with this short-term difficulty, the long-term outlook for PC hardware remains positive,” Dutt added.
Lenovo ranked first in the personal computer market in the fourth quarter of 2022, with total shipments of about 15.5 million units, which represents a 29 percent decrease year-on-year.
HP came in second place, as its shipments of personal computers decreased by 29 percent in the fourth quarter, to about 13.2 million units. For the full year 2022, the US company’s shipments suffered a 25 percent drop to 55.2 million units.
Dell, which ranked third, suffered the steepest decline among the majors in the fourth quarter, with shipments down 37 percent to 19.8 million units. However, compared to its numbers earlier in the year, its total shipments for the year were down 16 percent to 49.7 million units.
Apple ranked fourth according to its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 numbers, ending the year with 27.2 million Macs shipped, a decrease of 6 percent, while Taiwanese company Asus came in fifth with a modest decrease of 4 percent compared to its 2021 shipments.
