After two years of explosive growth, global PC shipments are starting to slow, according to IDC. Credit: Dell Technologies Following two years of double-digit growth, global shipments of personal computing devices declined 5% in the first quarter of 2022, according to research carried out by the analyst house IDC. Even with global sales slowing to start the year, vendors still shipped 80.5 million laptop, desktop, notebook and workstation devices during the first quarter of 2022, marking the seventh consecutive quarter where global shipments surpassed 80 million. That’s the longest sustained period of more than 80 million global PC shipments since 2012. The top vendors in the market have remained unchanged since the fourth quarter of 2021, with Lenovo holding a 23% market share. At Mobile World Congress earlier this year, the company announced a host of new ThinkPad, IdeaPad and tablet devices, all aimed at better enabling remote and hybrid working. HP and Dell Technologies both experienced double-digit market growth share this quarter too, at 20% and 17% respectively. Apple were ranked fourth by IDC’s tracker and fifth place was shared by ASUS and Acer. The research also found that, partly due to ongoing supply chain shortages, notebook PCs saw a year-over-year decline, while desktops grew slightly. Dell, Apple, and ASUS were the only major vendors that saw year-over-year shipment growth. Commenting on the results, Ryan Reith, group vice president for IDC’s worldwide mobile device trackers, said that the focus “shouldn’t be on the year-over-year decline in PC volumes, because that was to be expected” but rather the ability for the industry to still manage to ship more than 80 million PCs “at a time when logistics and supply chain are still a mess, accompanied by numerous geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges.” Jay Chou, research manager for IDC’s quarterly PC monitor tracker echoed his thoughts, noting that “aside from commercial spending on PCs, there are still emerging markets where demand had been neglected in the earlier periods of the pandemic, and higher end consumer demand also has held up.” Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3646 for the Beta Channel, released on May 23, 2024. By Preston Gralla May 24, 2024 260 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news analysis New law may force Apple App Store to open up in UK The UK has a new law that is likely to impact Apple and force it to change some of the ways it does business. By Jonny Evans May 24, 2024 5 mins Apple App Store Apple iOS news analysis Windows Recall — a ‘privacy nightmare’? The Windows AI feature announced by Microsoft this week quickly drew criticism for recording regular screenshots of a user’s screen; one security expert compared it to keylogging software. By Matthew Finnegan May 24, 2024 7 mins Data Privacy Microsoft Windows 11 how-to How to migrate to a new Windows PC All your files, apps, and settings are on your old computer. Here’s how to move them to your new Windows PC, from either Windows or macOS. By Galen Gruman and Preston Gralla May 24, 2024 16 mins Small and Medium Business Windows 10 Microsoft Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe