Worldwide PC shipments totalled 62.9 million units in the third quarter of 2024, a 1.3% decline from the third quarter of 2023, according to preliminary results by Gartner. This decline comes after three consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth for the PC market.

“Even with a full lineup of Windows-based AI PCs for both Arm and x86 in the third quarter of 2024, AI PCs did not boost the demand for PCs since buyers have yet to see their clear benefits or business value” said Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner. “Additionally, the demand for the Windows PC refresh driven by the end of Windows 10 support in 2025 did not fully pick up during the third quarter, partly due to economic challenges in certain regions.

“Despite the year-over-year decline in the third quarter, the PC market is still on a recovery track. At the worldwide level, PC demand will see more uptake toward the end of 2024 and more robust growth in 2025, when the PC refresh will be at its peak.”

There were no changes in the top four vendor rankings compared to the third quarter of 2023. Lenovo, HP, Inc., Apple and Acer experienced year-over-year growth, while Dell and ASUS declined in shipments.

Regional overview

The US PC market grew 5.6% in the third quarter of 2024, with over 17 million PCs shipped, driven by continued stable macroeconomic conditions.

“The US public sector showed healthy PC demand during the third quarter of 2024 as the government finalised its budget and reached the end of its fiscal year,” said Kitagawa. “The education sector also experienced strong PC demand as many devices purchased during the pandemic reached replacement age. Chromebooks experienced double-digit year-over-year growth, driven by demand from schools.”

HP maintained the top spot in the US PC market based on shipments with 24.8% market share. Dell followed with 23.6% market share.

The EMEA PC market experienced its first quarter of decline after three consecutive quarters of growth, decreasing 1.5%.

Temporary hurdles

“There were temporary hurdles to spending in EMEA in the third quarter of 2024. Political elections during the summer in the UK and France, along with major sporting events, distracted consumers and businesses from spending on technology, especially PCs,” said Kitagawa. “Despite this, the low decline should be viewed as a stabilisation of the EMEA PC market rather than a return to longer-term declines.”

The Asia/Pacific market declined 8.5% year-over-year, mainly due to continued weak market demand in China. The PC market in China declined 10% year-over-year primarily due to weakened demand for desktop PCs from government and state-owned enterprises.

Japan recorded its first double-digit year-over-year PC shipments growth in three years. “Although macroeconomic conditions did not stabilise in the third quarter, many companies, especially large businesses, were on time for the PC refresh driven by the end of Windows 10 support in 2025,” said Kitagawa.-

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