PC sales stagnate despite AI hype

Despite the abundance of newly launched notebooks with processors containing an AI unit, demand for new mobile computers and desktop PCs has weakened after three quarters of growth, according to market researchers from Gartner. Depending on how the market researchers from Gartner, IDC and Canalys count, there was a slight year-on-year decline in unit sales of 1.3%, 2.4% and a slight increase of 1.3% respectively. According to Gartner, 63 million computers were sold in the third quarter of 2024. Canalys and IDC include workstations and therefore have higher figures of 66 and 69 million respectively.

Recently, CPU manufacturers have introduced the Windows-on-ARM chip Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and the x86 processors Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" and AMD Ryzen AI 300 "Strix Point" processors, with which PC manufacturers and Microsoft hope to benefit from the AI boom. They contain powerful Neural Processing Units (NPU), which are necessary for the Copilot+ logo of Windows 11. According to IDC, however, there is still a lack of suitable applications, which is why many customers do not see any benefits and are holding off on making a purchase. Manufacturers are hoping that demand for these premium devices will increase when support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025, by which time companies will have to replace old computers that are incompatible with Windows 11.

Acer and Apple benefit

There were no significant shifts in the market shares of PC manufacturers. Lenovo remains in first place in terms of unit sales, accounting for one in four PCs sold. The largest increases were recorded by Acer with 4.4% and Apple with 3.5%, while smaller manufacturers outside the top 6 are playing an increasingly minor role (-13%).

PC market Q3/2024
Manufacturer	Sales Q3/24	Market share Q3/24	Sales Q3/23	Market share Q3/23	Change
Lenovo	16,587	26,3 %	16,178	25,3 %	2,5 %
HP	13,572	21,5 %	13,531	21,2 %	0,3 %
Dell	9,919	15,7 %	10,32	16,2 %	-3,9 %
Apple	5,652	9,0 %	5,463	8,6 %	3,5 %
Asus	4,983	7,9 %	5,136	8,0 %	-3,0 %
Acer	4,583	7,3 %	4,388	6,9 %	4,4 %
Andere	7,703	12,2 %	8,833	13,8 %	-12,8 %
Gesamt	62,997	100 %	63,848	100 %	-1,3 %
Source: Gartner, notebooks and desktop PCs sold worldwide in millions

From a regional perspective, demand for notebooks and desktop PCs rose primarily in the USA by more than 5%, although according to Gartner, sales to public authorities and the education sector were the main growth drivers there. The replacement of devices purchased during the pandemic is slowly beginning here. Chromebooks in particular, achieved double-digit growth rates. In Europe, however, sales shrank by 1.5% after three good quarters in a row. According to the market researchers, this was due to elections in France and the UK as well as major sporting events such as the European Football Championships and the Olympic Games, which led to less interest in IT hardware among end customers and corporate customers.

Sales figures fell most sharply in Asia (-8.5%), with PC sales plummeting in China in particular (-10%). Japan is an exception with double-digit growth, which market researchers attribute to new purchases due to the end of support for Windows 10. This is also the main driver for the PC market in the coming quarters, for which Gartner, IDC and Canalys expect stronger growth.

(chh)