IDC: PC Sales Fell 13.4 Percent in Q2

The market researchers at IDC reported today that PC sales fell 13.4 percent in Q2 2023, the sixth consecutive quarter of declines. The firm cites macroeconomic headwinds, overall weak demand, and a shift in IT budgets away from device purchases for the decline.

Note: As you know, I prefer to commingle the data from IDC and Gartner, but this topic is too important to wait.

“Elevated channel and component inventory are once again dragging down the market,” IDC research manager Jitesh Ubrani said. “And despite these issues slowly easing, many component suppliers continue to offer reduced pricing in an effort to clear their inventory though PC makers and channels are still cautious about new systems due to the reduced demand.”

In the good news department, the decline was less than IDC had predicted, and a lot less than the 29 percent drop that PC sales experienced in the previous quarter. IDC also notes that consumer PC sales are starting to inch back to pre-pandemic levels, while sales to businesses are uncertain because of workforce reductions and (what?) “the introduction of generative AI.”

Whatever. According to IDC, Lenovo remains the world’s biggest maker of PCs, while Apple was the only company in the top five to experience any growth, with most other companies, save HP, experiencing double-digit unit sales declines in the quarter. Here’s the breakdown.

Lenovo. 14.2 million units sold, down 18.4 percent, 23 percent market share.

HP. 13.4 million units, down 0.8 percent, 21.8 percent market share.

Dell. 10.3 million units, down 22 percent, 16.8 percent market share

Apple. 5.3 million units, up 10.3 percent, 8.6 percent market share.

Acer. 4 million units, down 19.2 percent, 6.4 percent market share