PC shipments fell eight percent in Q1 despite increased demand

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: A surge in remote working and learning due to shelter-in-place measures from Covid-19 has resulted in increased demand for new PCs around the globe. That’d normally be welcome news for PC makers except in this instance, they were already behind the eight ball due to Intel’s lingering CPU shortage.

According to a recent report from research firm Canalys, vendors shipped 53.7 million desktops, notebooks and workstations globally in Q1 2020 – an eight percent drop compared to the same period a year earlier. It was the largest decline in PC shipments since Q1 2016.

Lenovo, HP and Dell led the industry with shipments of 12.8 million, 11.7 million and 10.5 million systems, respectively. Among the top five vendors, Apple was hit hardest as its shipment volume slid 21 percent year over year.

Of course, Intel’s CPU shortage isn’t the only factor in play here. Many factories in China were unable to reopen after the Lunar New Year due to lockdown orders, hampering production.

Ishan Dutt, an analyst with Canalys, said that as we move into Q2, production constraints in China have eased but the spike in PC demand we saw in Q1 is not likely to be sustained. Many homes will have been freshly equipped and few businesses will be spending heavily on technology during a global recession.

Masthead credit: Oleksiy Mark

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https://www.techspot.com/news/84793-pc-shipments-fell-eight-percent-q1-despite-increased.html

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Constrained by circumstances, not market. It would seem that the issue will resolve.

 

[Uncle Al]

Obviously affected by the number of unemployed not buying new toys ..... when people go back to work it will pick up again ... now is the time the PC makers should be updating and improving their platforms rather than sitting back and waiting for the cash to roll back in ......

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Nobody wants to spend any money right now.

11% of America's workforce just filed unemployment.

The FEAR is going to cause recession.
The Fed's printing of money is causing cost-of-living increase: ie. Inflation
High unemployment + high underemployment.

We are basically entering a period of STAGFLATION.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I tried to do something on my end to support PC hardware sales, but it ended in failure; twice.

I ordered an 8TB WD Red drive for my plex server - my 4TB drive is nearly fully (I backup on a second 4TB) so I needed something larger. I want to shift all videos/pictures to be split between my 2 - 4TB drives and use the 8TB as backup until I can afford a second one.

Having around $45 in gift card balance on Amazon I ordered my 8TB drive so I could save a little cash on the full purchase.

The drive shows up in a plastic envelope....shipped through several states to arrive at the local Amazon distribution center about 5 miles from my house, only to get tossed around during the whole trip in a plastic envelope. Needless to say, the HDD clicks as it spins so I returned it - filed a complaint about the poor packaging and asked for a replacement drive.

Hoping for the best, I was certainly let down. Amazon shipped a replacement drive, but in a plastic envelope, just like the first one.

I'm asking Amazon for a refund so I can find a different seller/shipper (probably look towards Newegg, they've never shipped me a HDD in a plastic envelope before - they've always packed them nice in a box with ample packing material). I was sure to write "Refused due to improper shipping of a mechanical HDD" in big black letters across both sides of the envelope. They probably won't give a rip.Probably be another week before I see my refund....