IDC: PC Sales Fell 15 Percent in Q3

The market researchers at IDC report that PC sales fell 15 percent year-over-year in the third quarter to 74.3 million units.

Note: I normally wait for Gartner to chime in on PC sales and then average the numbers but this is important enough to cover separately. I will write a second post when Gartner reports its numbers.

UPDATE: Gartner has weighed in. Here is my new post. —Paul

“Consumer demand has remained muted though promotional activity from the likes of Apple and other players has helped soften the fall and reduce channel inventory by a couple [of] weeks across the board,” IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani says. “Supply has also reacted to the new lows by reducing orders with Apple being the only exception as their third quarter supply increased to make up for lost orders stemming from the lockdowns in China during the second quarter.”

Less cryptically, IDC blames cooling demand for PCs and uneven supply constraints for the shortfall, but the firm also notes that unit sales remain “well above” pre-pandemic levels.

Of the top five PC makers, only Apple sold more units in the quarter than in the year before. Lenovo remains the biggest maker of PCs, with 16.9 million units sold (22.7 percent market share), a decline of 16.1 percent YOY. HP was again in second place, with 12.7 million units sold (17.1 percent, down 27.8 percent). And Dell (12 million units, 16.1 percent, down 21.2 percent), Apple (10 million units, 13.5 percent, up 40.2 percent), and ASUS (5.5 million units, 7.5 percent, down 7.8 percent) bring up the rear of the top five.