As seen in the latest market report from International Data Corporation, the Covid-19 outbreak boom in the computer market has come to an end. In the last quarter of last year, sales fell significantly compared to the previous year. Recovery is expected in 2024.Global shipments of traditional computers fell 28.1 percent year-on-year to 67.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022. A similar sales figure can be said to be in the last quarter of 2018, when Intel suffered from heavy supply shortages.
Lenovo led the way with 15.5 million PC sales in Q4. HP followed with 13.2 million units and Dell with 10.8 million units. Apple, on the other hand, sold 7.5 million Macs in the same period. All of these companies experienced negative growth in the relevant last quarter. Total computer sales throughout the year amounted to 292.3 million units. In fact, this amount is well above the pre-epidemic period, but there is a 16 percent decrease compared to 2021. Yet users have a relatively new computer, and the worsening global economy is making people more conservative and tending to protect what they have.
Retailers turned to discounts in the last quarter to increase demand. Although sales increased in a few channels, there was no general spread. Despite the efforts, IDC Research Manager Jitesh Ubrani says inventory management will continue to be a key issue in the coming quarters. On the other hand, signs of recovery are expected by the end of 2023 and the general rise is expected in 2024. Microsoft’s end of support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 may speed up the process.
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