Data shows the PC market just posted record growth

Oct 11, 2019 07:22 GMT  ·  By

The approaching end-of-support for Windows 7, as well as the upgrade push to Windows 10 are two of the catalysts of a record growth for the global PC market, according to data shared by Canalys.

Sales of new PCs reached 70.9 million units in Q3 2019, which represents a growth of 4.7 percent, the biggest in 7 years, an analysis posted by the market analysis firm this week reveals.

Lenovo continues to be the company dominating PC sales, having recorded a growth of 7.2 percent versus the same quarter of 2018. Lenovo sold no less than 17.3 million PCs in Q3, while second-placed HP reached 16.7 million units thanks to an impressive 8.5 percent growth.

Dell and Apple are next with 12.1 million and 5.3 million units, respectively. Apple itself posted a growth of 1.5 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

Manufacturers afraid of new tariffs

Canalys says that in addition to Windows 10 upgrades, seasonal inventory stocking for the holidays also helped boost PC sales, along with macroeconomic conditions.

“In volatile regions, PC vendors and channels were forced to take precautionary measures to hedge against future disruption. In the US, for example, another round of tariffs is scheduled to take effect on US$37 billion worth of Chinese made notebooks and tablets,” Canalys explains.

“As a result, leading PC vendors are pumping up production orders, and channel partners are building inventory ahead of the 15 December deadline. This impact will not last forever, but in the short term it has benefited the PC supply chain, which saw a positive performance that is likely to extend into Q4.”

Despite not being mentioned in these charts, Microsoft itself is also one of the companies benefiting from the growing PC sales. More devices running Windows 10 help make the transition off Windows 7 faster and smoother, especially given the 2009 operating system till runs on 3 in 10 computers currently out there.