Global PC sales soar
Reading Time: 2 minutes15th February 2021 | Modified: 19th December 2022Categories: Tech News
Global sales of personal computers (PCs) soared over the past 12 months as many more people worked from home.
Market research firm Canalys reports that PC shipments reached 297 million units in 2020, up an impressive 11 per cent from 2019. IDC puts the year at 302 million shipments, up 13.1 per cent year-on-year. And Gartner also agrees that 2020 was a big year for PCs and the biggest growth since 2010.
Strong demand throughout the Autumn saw sales jump 13 per cent from the previous quarter, according to data gathered by Canalys. These figures were all the more impressive because the previous quarter, Q3, was also very strong.
This growth was driven by notebooks and mobile workstations while desktop and desktop workstation shipments fell 22 per cent.
In total, the top five vendors accounted for 78.5 per cent of global shipments in 2020. Lenovo was the top supplier with a record-breaking 23.1 million units shipped and the company saw a 29 per cent growth in sales with a leading market share of 24.5 per cent.
Fast and reliable
The simplest answer for the demand is remote working and learning and the need for fast, reliable and innovative laptops and notebooks.
However, IDC says the strength of the consumer market should not be overlooked. Gaming PC sales are at an all-time high and Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market.
Microsoft also declared that “the PC is back” at the beginning of the pandemic and saw a big jump in Windows usage after reporting 1 billion Windows 10 users. It also adjusted its Windows 10X plans as a result of the pandemic and increased PC demand. 10X was originally supposed to launch on dual-screen devices, but Microsoft is now planning to launch it on single-screen laptop devices first.
Gary Jowett, from Computer & Network Consultants (CNC) in Brighton, said: “The sustained periods of remote working – plus constraints on traditional entertainment – appear to be key drivers fuelling the significant increase in sales of PCs. Either for a more flexible way to connect to the office or for gaming, watching videos on-demand and Zoom-calling friends and relatives.”
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