Global PC Shipments Plunged 30% Year-over-Year in Q1 2023

Over the past years, global PC and laptop ownership and usage have significantly decreased, mainly replaced by smartphones. That downsizing trend continued in 2023, with PC shipments seeing a double-digit drop.

Data from SportsLens.com in fact shows that global PC shipments totaled 56.9 million units in Q1 2023, almost 30% less than in the same quarter a year ago.

PC Shipments Fall 3 Quarters in a Row

In 2022, a perfect storm of supply chain issues, the China lockdown, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and global inflation slashed global demand for PCs, bringing the steepest drop since the 1990s, according to SportsLens.com But, the negative trend continued in 2023.

Global PC shipments totaled 80.2 million units in the first quarter of 2022, or 4.5 million units less than in the same quarter in 2021, according to Statista and IDC data. Over the next 3 months, global PC shipments dropped by another 11% to 71.3 million. After a short recovery and the number of shipments rising to 74.3 million in Q3 2022, the last 3 months saw another downturn, with the total number of shipped PCs falling by almost 10% to 67.2 million. Still, that was nothing compared to the drop in the first months of 2023. Statistics show global PC shipments plunged by another 15% in the first 3 months of the year, falling to 56.9 million worldwide. This also represents the third consecutive quarter of shipment decline.

Statistics also show Lenovo and Dell saw the biggest shipment decrease, falling by 30% year over year. As the largest PC vendor globally, Lenovo shipped 12.7 million PCs between January and March, down from 18.3 million in the year-ago period. Dell`s shipments totaled 9.5 million in Q1 2023, down from 13.7 million in the same quarter a year ago. HP shipped 12 million PCs in the three months, showing a 24% drop year-over-year.

Global Spending on PCs, Tablets, and Mobile Phones 

The latest drop in PC shipments comes as inflation continues to crumble consumer purchasing power. At the same time, PCs and laptops are losing the race with mobile phones. Nevertheless, all IT devices are set to witness a significant drop in global demand this year, according to SportsLens.com.

According to Gartner, consumers worldwide will spend $685.6 billion on PCs, tablets and mobile phones in 2023, or $36.5 billion less than last year. The latest drop follows a 10% decline in 2022, when global spending on IT devices amounted to $722.1 billion.

Statistics show the 2-year drop in global consumer spending on PCs, tablets and mobile phones is expected to hit a whopping $150 billion this year.

The full story and statistics can be found here.  

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.