PC Shipments in Q1 Surged As Customer Demand Remains High

The demand for PCs has persisted from 2020 into the first months of 2021, and it could very well continue over the next few years, according to the research firm IDC. 

On Friday, IDC posted the PC shipments numbers for Q1, which surged 55.2% year-over-year for some surprisingly high growth. 

The increase is a bit inflated though. A year ago, the PC market had no choice but to shrink due to COVID-19 shutting down factories in China, which prevented manufacturers from shipping out products. 

Nevertheless, the shipment numbers from IDC do contain this interesting tidbit: From last year’s Q4 to this year’s Q1, PC shipments merely fell from 91.6 million units down to 84 million for a modest 8 percent decline.

“While sequential declines are typical for the first quarter, a decline this small has not been seen since the first quarter of 2012 when the PC market declined 7.5% sequentially,” IDC said.   

The research firm attributes the high PC shipments to unfulfilled demand from 2020 carrying over into 2021. The need for laptops has also been soaring on the pandemic causing people to work and study from home. Specifically, IDC notes office employees have been demanding more powerful notebooks, while customers in the education sector have been wanting laptops with touchscreens. On top of all this, gamers have been clamoring for new PCs too. 

“There is no question when entering 2021 the backlog for PCs was extensive across business, consumer, and education,” IDC analyst Ryan Reith said in a statement. “The ongoing shortages in the semiconductor space only further prolong the ability for vendors to refill inventory and fulfill orders to customers.”

According to him, there’s been a “fundamental shift” around the PC market, which used to rarely see any growth, due to consumers buying up smartphones. Reith now says the ongoing demand shows the PC market may be headed on an upward swing in the years to follow. 

“All three segments —business, education, and consumer— are experiencing demand that we didn’t expect to happen regardless of many countries beginning their ‘opening up’ process,” he said. “Component shortages will likely be a topic of conversation for the majority of 2021, but the more important question should be what PC demand will look like in two to three years.”

The research firm Canalys is also bullish on the PC market continuing to grow. “Order backlogs and ongoing strong demand present a great short-term opportunity, while the ballooned installed base of PC users presents significant future opportunities for refreshes and upgrades,” wrote Canalys Research Director Rushabh Doshi last month. 

However, the ongoing shortage for chips may severely limit the PC industry’s growth. “Canalys is taking a relatively conservative view, projecting single-digit growth for this year and next due to prevailing uncertainty around supply and distribution. Crucial components, such as displays, GPUs and other smaller chips that drive PC internals, will face a squeeze for most of 2021 and well into 2022, leaving a significant amount of demand unfulfilled,” Doshi added.