14 DAY TRIAL // It’s not a secret that device sales skyrocketed throughout 2020 as the world started to work from home, and according to a new report, a massive jump was recorded in the first quarter of 2021 as well.
And there’s a good explanation for the whole thing. IDC explains that global shipments of traditional PCs, which include desktops, notebooks, and workstations, increased by no less than that 55.2 percent year over year in the first quarter of the year, which means that customers worldwide purchased nearly a half more devices in early 2021 versus early 2020.
But as you’d expect, this isn’t the full story. And it’s all because as IDC explains, the PC market was substantially impacted by shortages in the first quarter of 2020 when the global health issue hit us from nowhere and forced everybody to start working remotely.
So in theory, the PC sales in the first quarter of 2020 have been impacted by the reduced availability, something that was eventually addressed in the first quarter of this year when PC shipments reached 84 million units.
Lenovo still number one
But on the other hand, this is a decline of 8 percent from the previous quarter, though this performance could actually be the result of component shortages.
“The ongoing shortages in the semiconductor space only further prolong the ability for vendors to refill inventory and fulfill orders to customers. We believe a fundamental shift has occurred around the PC, which will result in a more positive outlook for 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. 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 2-3 years,” IDC says.
Lenovo continues to be the number one PC maker with over 20.4 million sold units, followed by HP and Dell with 19.2 million and 12.9 million units, respectively. Apple is fourth with close to 7 million sold units.