PC sales are stalling as worries over costs and upgrade hassle hit hard

Global PC shipments rose just 1% in the most recent quarter, closing on September 30, as the industry showed more signs of slowdown, analyst reports have claimed.

Despite the figures from Canalys marking a fourth consecutive quarter of growth, PC shipments by volume are still down compared with the same period in 2022, 2021 and 2020.

During Q3 2024, 66.4 million devices were shipped, with consumers and enterprises largely favoring notebooks and mobile workstations, which accounted for four in five shipments.

PC shipments are growing, but very slowly

Despite staggered growth, there is hope that the looming Windows 10 end of life could generate a surge in upgrades. However, we’re just one year away from that deadline and Windows 10 deployment still stands at nearly two-thirds (63%), compared with Windows 11 (33%) which has been slow to amass business customer interest.

Lenovo continues to lead the way, accounting for around one-quarter (24.8%) of the market, with HP (20.4%) and Dell (14.8%) rounding up the top three. While Apple has slipped to fifth place to make way for Asus, a potential launch of M4-series Macs later in 2024 could give the Cupertino giant the uptick it needs.

“Commercial procurement is expected to remain elevated throughout the rest of this year, with 54% of channel partners surveyed by Canalys anticipating growth in their PC business in H2 2024 compared with the same period last year," noted Ishan Dutt, Principal Analyst for Canalys.

Dutt also noted that emerging AI-capable PCs are driving customers to upgrade to futureproof their hardware against artificial intelligence applications.

Separately, Jitesh Ubrani, an IDC Research Manager, added: “Newer AI PCs such as Copilot+ PCs from Qualcomm along with Intel and AMD’s equivalent chips as well as Apple’s expected M4-based Macs are expected to drive the premium segment in coming months.”

However, Research VP Linn Huang indicated that the takeoff of AI PCs could be slower than first anticipated, with the effects unlikely to be seen until 2026.

Acknowledging that demand has been tainted, Canalys predicts that the upcoming holiday season could prove positive for the industry.

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