PC makers continue to struggle with declining shipments

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: Shipments of traditional PCs continued their downward trajectory in the third quarter. According to International Data Corporation's (IDC) latest report, global shipments totaled 74.3 million units during the three-month period ending September 30, down 15 percent from the 87.3 million PCs that shipped during the same timeframe a year earlier.

Lenovo led the pack with 16.9 million PC shipments, a contraction of 16.1 percent year over year. HP finished in second place with 12.7 million units shipped followed by Dell with 12 million PCs shipped. In fact, each of the top five manufacturers saw shipments dip compared to the year-ago quarter except for Apple.

The Cupertino-based company moved 10.1 million Macs during Q3, a 40 percent increase over the 7.2 million units shipped a year ago.

IDC blamed the year-over-year dip on a combination of cooling demand and uneven supply. Promos from Apple and others helped to soften the fall, said IDC research manager Jitesh Ubrani. IDC further noted that shipment volumes remain well above pre-pandemic levels when sales were largely driven by enterprises refreshing their fleets.

The traditional PC market isn't the only category that has experienced declines as of late. Gaming monitors are expected to experience the first year-over-year decline ever in 2022 and smartphone shipments continue to fall. Hard drive shipments dropped 33 percent year over year in the second quarter to approximately 45 million units.

It's not all bad news, however, as supply constraints are starting to ease. Valve recently lifted the reservation system for its Steam Deck handheld and can now get units to buyers within 1-2 weeks. Tablet and Chromebooks are also starting to normalize as demand for cheaper alternatives to PCs persists.

IDC said it will also be keeping an eye on the average selling prices (ASPs) of PCs in the current quarter. ASPs were up five quarters in a row to $910 in Q1 - the highest level since 2004 - but with demand cooling and promotions in full swing, the ASP climb has reversed.

Image credit: Oussama Bergaoui

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96265-pc-makers-continue-struggle-declining-shipments.html

 

[DSirius]

Funny how PC makers expect to sell more PC than the last 2 years, but raises prices almost to double to some components. Oops Nvidia is the champion here. A more realist forecast is that PC sells will be less than half if the inflation grows up and living cost increases.

 

[Hodor]

I'd rather sell a few very expensive items, than a huge number of cheap items. The income may be identical, but you have less hassle with a smaller number of products and customers.

Hardware manufacturers seem to be doing the same. Selling less, but at a higher price.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'd rather sell a few very expensive items, than a huge number of cheap items. The income may be identical, but you have less hassle with a smaller number of products and customers.

Hardware manufacturers seem to be doing the same. Selling less, but at a higher price.

That's Apple's entire business. Luxury good, high prices, high margins, relatively low volumes, though their volumes aren't super low at 1/3 to 1/2 of the market leader.

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

OH NO! Anyways...

 

[bviktor]

That's Apple's entire business. Luxury good, high prices, high margins, relatively low volumes, though their volumes aren't super low at 1/3 to 1/2 of the market leader.

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Apple is one of the biggest phone vendors. Also, check out prices for something like a Samsung Galaxy flagship.

Apple is not “luxury”, their price/value is outstanding. Their phones last for 5 years at minimum. With OS updates.

Not having unusable low end products won’t make you a “luxury” brand. You don’t know what luxury means. When you buy an iPhone you don’t pay for the apple logo, you pay for the fastest CPU on the planet, among other things.

 

[loki1944]

Economy is in the shitter; what did they expect.

 

[Eckythump]

I'd rather sell a few very expensive items, than a huge number of cheap items. The income may be identical, but you have less hassle with a smaller number of products and customers.

Hardware manufacturers seem to be doing the same. Selling less, but at a higher price.

It really depends what the margins are on those items. Take for instance, EVGA. They stated they make a lot more profit on selling power supplies than they do on Video Cards.

 

[godrilla]

It really depends what the margins are on those items. Take for instance, EVGA. They stated they make a lot more profit on selling power supplies than they do on Video Cards.

Its true but did they come up with an excuse why they have no ATX 3.0 psus in entire lineup? It has to be consistent!

 

[Lew Zealand]

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Apple is one of the biggest phone vendors. Also, check out prices for something like a Samsung Galaxy flagship.

Apple is not “luxury”, their price/value is outstanding. Their phones last for 5 years at minimum. With OS updates.

Not having unusable low end products won’t make you a “luxury” brand. You don’t know what luxury means. When you buy an iPhone you don’t pay for the apple logo, you pay for the fastest CPU on the planet, among other things.

Did you miss the part of this article where we're talking about PCs? And you pay more for Apple's products, even when the quality is there to back up the price like with the iPhone. I am aware of iPhones as I've been using them exclusively since it was called 'iPhone' with no other designation. I said nothing about overpriced, as a luxury good can still be worth the high price if quality, longevity, etc. comes with it. But it's still a luxury good and that is what Apple sells across the board.

By your argument Porsche is not a luxury good, even though they are expensive and there are other cars available at the same price and sometimes of equivalent value. I don't agree with that. And you can keep ignorant judgements about me to yourself and stick to the topic.

 

[Hodor]

OH NO! Anyways...

Jeremy Clarkson fan?