The PC market recovered the upward trend in 2024 with a modest year-on-year increase, but an increase in any case, according to preliminary data published by IDC.
The three years of the COVID pandemic were “fantastic” in terms of personal computer sales, as workers and students had to stay home and acquire new computing infrastructure. Many consumers They bought new equipment in 2020 and 2021 (record since 2012 and reversing the declines of the last six years) or updated the existing ones with new components to cover the greater needs for work at home, online study and also entertainment for confinements as we adapted to the pandemic global.
However, 2023 was a terrible year for the computing market, with a global drop of close to 30%. It was simply not possible for the industry to maintain sustained growth considering that laptop computers tend to have a useful life between three and five years and desktop computers last much longer, three to eight years.
PC market, on the rise in 2024
Sales of personal computers returned to the upward path in 2024. Suppliers sent 262.7 million PCs, 1% more than in 2023. “Although the market has seen a slower return to growth, there was some room for optimism in the fourth quarter as government subsidies in China led to better-than-expected performance within the consumer segment.”said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers at IDC.
“Beyond that, the United States and some European countries also showed strong performance due to year-end sales promotions, as well as companies continuing on the path of upgrading hardware before the end of support for Windows 10 , which is scheduled for October 2025″explained the analyst.
Sale by manufacturers
According to IDC figures, Lenovo maintained its position as the largest PC manufacturer of the world in 2024, capturing a 24.5 percent market share and achieving 4.8 percent year-on-year growth. HP Inc. came in second with a 19.9 percent market share, although it was the only company to experience negative growth in 2024, recording a 1.7 percent decline. Dell, Apple and ASUS maintained third, fourth and fifth place, with market shares of 14.4 percent, 10.1 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.
Doubts for 2025
As other research firms have advanced in recent months, IDC notes that the next US administration could have a significant impact on the technology market. Donald Trump’s imminent threat of imposing new tariffs or higher quotas of existing ones is generating concern throughout the industry, leaving some brands facing a period of considerable uncertainty.
“Broad macroeconomic concerns appear to be overshadowing some of the progress and excitement around AI computers.”remarked IDC vice president, Ryan Reith.
Additionally, while the industry is pushing for customers to adopt new systems equipped with neural processing units and other advanced technologies, organizations are still debating tangible use cases for AI. Users are not seeing that the benefits of AI are as many as marketing and marketing departments say. They don’t seem to be in any hurry to acquire new equipment. specific for these tasks.
IDC notes that the presence of AI on PCs is inevitable, although it will probably take much longer to become widespread than initially anticipated. And this applies to both consumers and companies.
