Worldwide PC Shipments Experienced the Sharpest Decline in Nine Years in Second Quarter of 2022

According to early Gartner, Inc. results, worldwide PC shipments totaled 72 million units in the second quarter of 2022, a 12.6 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2021. The worldwide PC market is seeing its worst decline in nine years, owing to geopolitical, economic, and supply chain issues affecting all regional markets.

Mikako Kitagawa, Research Director, Gartner said, “The decline we saw in the first quarter of 2022 has accelerated in the second quarter, driven by the ongoing geopolitical instability caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, inflationary pressure on spending and a steep downturn in demand for Chromebooks. Supply chain disruptions also continued, but the major cause of PC delivery delays changed from component shortages to logistics disruptions. Enterprise buyers continued to experience longer PC delivery times than usual, but the lead times began to improve by the end of the second quarter, partially because key cities in China reopened in the middle of the quarter.”

Kitagawa also said in a statement that in order to maintain profits when costs rise due to inflation, the PC industry must raise average selling prices (ASPs) despite weakening demand. The shift away from low-cost Chromebooks and toward premium products also contributed to a rise in the average ASP. However, an increase in inventory, particularly in the consumer channel, may result in an ASP decline as vendors try to lower inventory.

The top three vendors in the worldwide PC market experienced declines in PC shipments in the second quarter of 2022, but their ranking remained unchanged. The combination of HP declining 27.5 percent and Dell declining 5.2 percent allowed Dell to move to within 0.3 percentage points of HP in market share. Apple was the only vendor to experience growth in the second quarter of 2022, driven by the popularity of the M1 device.

Lenovo’s worldwide PC shipments declined year over year, marking the company’s third consecutive quarter of decline. Lenovo, on the other hand, increased its share of the worldwide desktop PC market by 2 percent, due in part to improvements in the company’s supply chain in EMEA. HP fell 27.5 percent in the second quarter of 2022, owing mostly to a drop in Chromebook shipments.

Dell’s shipments declined year on year for the first time since the third quarter of 2020. Shipments were down in all significant markets except Latin America, where Dell saw a 6.5 percent growth. Despite a decline in overall shipments, Dell’s market share increased by 1 percentage point year on year.

Regional Overview

In the second quarter of 2022, the PC market in the United States fell 17.5 percent. Although the industry saw growth in both desktop PCs and laptops (excluding Chromebooks), this was offset by a 50 percent year-over-year decline in Chromebook shipments.
Dell has a 27.2 percent market share in the US PC market based on shipments. Despite a 43.5 percent loss, HP held second place with a 22.3 percent market share.

The EMEA PC market was the hardest hit in the second quarter of 2022 with a 18 percent decline in PC shipments, reaching only 17.8 million units. “This is a major setback in total volume after two years of very strong growth stimulated by COVID-19 and refreshed interest in PCs among consumers and the education segment,” said Kitagawa. “Abandonment or complete relinquishment of operations in Russia due to war in the Ukraine had an even bigger impact on the PC market, as Russian PC shipments for leading PC vendors used to contribute between 5-10 percent the total EMEA PC volume.”

EMEA also experienced a 20 percent decline in laptop shipments, while Chromebook shipments declined over 50 percent year-over-year. This is the result of overall sluggish demand from consumers across many countries in EMEA, struggling with price increases across many products, especially fuel and energy. A very high level of inflation will negatively impact consumer purchase power in the second half of 2022 and possibly into the first half of 2023.

The APAC (excluding Japan) PC market declined 5.2 percent in the second quarter of 2022, driven by a 16 percent decline in the China PC market. China’s zero COVID-19 policy dramatically impacted the economy with lockdowns in Shanghai stopping carriers and logistics and any online orders and delivery in Shanghai during the time.

In the second quarter of 2022, the Japanese PC market fell 10.8 percent. The sharp depreciation of the Japanese yen contributed to the drop. As a result of the weak currency, PC prices have constantly grown. Other impacting variables included growing fuel costs, the temporary impact of the China lockdown, and the overall tightening of IT spending.

These are preliminary findings. Clients of Gartner’s PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program will soon get access to the final statistics. This tool provides a comprehensive and timely picture of the global PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing, and sales organizations to stay on top of key issues and their global implications.