Personal Computing Devices Market Share

2023 Q2 PCD Market Overview

Worldwide PCD shipments posted decline of 19.8% year over year in the second quarter of 2023 (2Q23), totaling 89.4 million units. Global PC shipments declined 13.9% year over year. This was the sixth consecutive quarter of contraction brought on by macroeconomic headwinds, weak demand from both the consumer and commercial sectors, and a shift in IT budgets away from device purchases. Despite the poor showing, the market performed better than forecast for the quarter. The overall weak demand has caused inventory levels to remain above normal for longer than expected. This includes finished systems at the channel level, as well as the supply chain.

So far, no PC maker has been immune to the challenges presented by the market. Except for Apple and HP Inc., all the leading companies experienced double-digit declines during the quarter. But Apple benefited from a favorable year-over-year comparison as the company suffered supply issues during 2Q22 due to COVID-related shutdowns within the supply chain. Meanwhile, HP has faced an oversupply of inventory in the past year and is finally approaching normalized levels of inventory, allowing its growth rate to shine during this downturn. Tablet shipments also recorded decline, shipments dropped by 30.2% year over year totaling 28.2 million units. Demand for tablets continued to be weak in the quarter and most of the top vendors recorded double-digit declines as consumer confidence and purchasing power remained low. Elevated levels of channel inventory also acted as headwinds for new tablet shipments though the issue is expected to ease further in the coming months. Chromebook shipments also contracted in 2Q23 with shipments totaling 5.8 million units for a year-over-year decline of 2.9%. Their decline was minimal, as there were pull-in orders from H2 2023 due to the expected increase in the Chrome OS licensing cost in the second half of the year.

In terms of forecast, the road to recovery for personal computers (PCs) seems challenging coming off explosive years in 2020 and 2021, but signs of growth are finally returning. PC shipments are forecast to grow 3.7% year over year in 2024 reaching 261.4 million shipments. This shipment volume will be higher than the 259.6 million in 2018, but still below 2019 levels. Tablets are also forecasted to grow 4.4% year over year in 2024 with a shipment total of 135 million units. The industry still faces challenges including concerns around the consumer market refresh cycle, businesses pushing device purchases forward, and education budgets that are not rebounding in many markets. As a result, 2023 PC shipments are forecast to decline 13.7% year over year to 252 million units and tablet shipments are forecast to decline 20% year over year to 129.4 million units.

The commercial PC market is getting very interesting for several reasons. From a processor standpoint we are arguably seeing some of the biggest shifts in commercial PC history with AMD reaching 11% share in 2022 and Apple just over 5% in 2022. Additionally, the introduction of generative AI has all IT decision makers questioning where to prioritize budgets. And while AI-capable PCs are not ready today, they are coming and have shifted some of the discussion around device purchasing within businesses. Lastly, the move to remote/hybrid work environments has not gone away and as a result we're still hearing that many companies are listening to the requests of their employees. This includes which brands, types of PCs, and whether multiple PCs are needed for those that are in a hybrid work environment.

Data table for "Historical PCD Market Share" chart

Quarter	Desktop	Detachable Tablet	Notebook	Slate Tablet	Workstation
2022Q2	19,150,249	18,437,821	49,923,269	21,893,783	2,019,660
2022Q3	19,439,629	19,836,309	52,439,399	18,903,292	1,879,756
2022Q4	17,989,632	26,371,386	47,308,951	18,213,344	1,744,412
2023Q1	15,750,980	15,369,099	39,643,593	15,251,164	1,612,574
2023Q2	15,702,540	14,923,815	43,804,084	13,241,221	1,693,589

Data table for "Forecast PCD Market Share" chart

Year	Desktop	Detachable Tablet	DT & Datacenter WS	Mobile WS	Notebook	Slate Tablet
2023	65,646,573	68,346,880	2,911,089	4,025,078	179,442,227	61,025,887
2024	66,111,839	72,980,045	3,042,736	4,478,904	187,731,684	62,053,615
2025	67,934,910	75,743,528	3,326,163	5,043,878	200,332,639	60,784,064
2026	65,922,569	76,327,462	3,356,311	5,283,765	205,516,997	59,564,687
2027	65,443,772	75,051,937	3,345,468	5,456,382	210,701,433	58,083,326