PC Sales Grew 1.9 Percent in 2019

PC makers sold 264 million units in all of 2019, according to data collected by Gartner and IDC, a gain of 1.9 percent year-over-year. That may not sound like much—indeed, many might accurately describe that figure as “flat”—but after seven straight years of falling PC sales, we’re going to take it as a victory. Most likely a temporary one, since PC makers benefitted last year from the pending retirement of Windows 7, which triggered the small rebound.

That said, it’s possible we’ll see some positive results this year too as the Windows 7 upgrades continue.

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“The PC market experienced growth for the first time since 2011, driven by vibrant business demand for Windows 10 upgrades, particularly in the U.S., EMEA, and Japan,” Gartner’s Mikako Kitagawa said in a prepared statement. “We expect this growth to continue through this year even after Windows 7 support comes to an end this month, as many businesses in emerging regions such as China, Eurasia, and the emerging Asia/Pacific have not yet upgraded.”

“This past year was a wild one in the PC world, which resulted in impressive market growth that ultimately ended seven consecutive years of market contraction,” IDC’s Ryan Reiths said in a prepared statement. “The market will still have its challenges ahead, but this year was a clear sign that PC demand is still there despite the continued insurgence of emerging form factors and the demand for mobile computing.”

Much of 2019’s growth came in the 4th quarter, according to both Gartner and IDC: PC sales hit 71.2 million units in the quarter, up 3.5 percent from the 68.8 million sold in the year-ago quarter.

Lenovo remained the world’s biggest maker of PCs, with 63.9 million units sold in 2019, good for 24 percent of all sales. HP was number two, with 60.4 million units sold (22.9 percent marketshare). Dell, Apple, and Acer rounded out the top five, with Apple’s Mac platform landing at 6.8 percent marketshare for the year.

I’ll be writing more about PC marketshare soon.

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Conversation 13 comments

  • dallasnorth40

    Premium Member
    14 January, 2020 - 9:34 am

    <p>So, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated?</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      14 January, 2020 - 9:45 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#512850">In reply to dallasnorth40:</a></em></blockquote><p>No, it's been pretty damn consistent. :)</p>

  • ErichK

    Premium Member
    14 January, 2020 - 10:11 am

    <p>Long live the PC!</p>

  • glenn8878

    14 January, 2020 - 11:18 am

    <p>1.9 percent increase is definitely a win. What's holding back the PC market is still Microsoft's inability to advance Windows to be more flexible (touch/tablet PCs are virtually dead) and it's increasingly outdated application model that doesn't advance Win32 and the clunky UI of UWP apps. Can they finally integrate the application UI? Can Intel finally make a more advanced processor that ensures long battery life and always on? No one is waiting for PC technology to catch up to modern computing. Either we have it or we don't.</p>

  • codymesh

    14 January, 2020 - 11:25 am

    <p>This is good news because it puts an end to the fears of the PC market further contracting.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      14 January, 2020 - 12:15 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#512893">In reply to codymesh:</a></em></blockquote><p>No it doesn't. In the year in which most Windows 7 upgrades occurred, the market only grew 1.9 percent. That's not actually that great. </p>

      • Stooks

        14 January, 2020 - 1:47 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#512913">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>I would wager that most Windows 7 upgrades, especially for enterprise will happen in 2020. These guys always wait and wait past the date they should have.</p>

  • simont

    Premium Member
    14 January, 2020 - 11:28 am

    <p>How many of those are due to an older PC not being able to run Windows 10 I wonder. And I assume the biggest part of the bump was businesses finally upgrading PC's for Windows 10.</p>

  • dave0

    14 January, 2020 - 11:38 am

    <p>PCs are fridges now. Everyone needs one, but they don't need a new one every three years. </p>

  • Stooks

    14 January, 2020 - 1:46 pm

    <p>Apple down 5.3% for the year. Higher prices, craptastic keyboards, no usable ports, removal of mag safe, lame touch bar. After a while your customers just don't come back.</p>

    • Andi

      14 January, 2020 - 4:46 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#512983">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well said. Still I would say overall they have had a good performance on the back of the continuity feature. This iphone tie-in sold many macs. Not to mention full stack devs absolutely needs a mac. </p>

      • Stooks

        14 January, 2020 - 7:33 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#513033">In reply to Andi:</a></em></blockquote><p>If Xcode was ever released on Linux or Windows or iOS, the Mac sales would drop by 50% or more. Coding for iOS is probably at least half of the reason Mac's are sold.</p>

    • bob_shutts

      15 January, 2020 - 11:05 am

      <blockquote><a href="#512983"><em>In reply to Stooks:</em></a><em> I'm afraid Apple has become a phone/tablet manufacturer that sells computers on the side. </em>?</blockquote><p><br></p>

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