Report shows U.S. PC shipments took a 16 percent dive year over year in the first quarter, but Dell and Apple have both wrested market share away from competitors. One partner says once the dust settles, PC demand will still be higher than it was pre-pandemic.
Dell Technologies topped rivals in the U.S., taking 27.1 percent of the PC market while rivals HP and Lenovo took significant market share losses, according to research firm Gartner.
Round Rock, Texas PC giant Dell showed year-over-year growth of 5.4 percent with 5.1 million first quarter shipments, showing its sixth consecutive period of growth, according to Gartner. HP came in second with 4.3 million shipments, showing a huge 39.9 percent drop in year-over-year growth. Lenovo came in third place with 3.2 million shipments and a 24.5 percent drop year-over-year. Acer took a 28.1 percent loss for the quarter, year-over-year.
Both Lenovo and HP had very strong positions in the Chromebook market that saw spikes with students learning from home during the early part of the pandemic. With kids now back in schools across the country, overall U.S. PC shipments declined 16.5 percent year-over-year. Gartner noted that Dell had a relatively minor share of the Chromebook and consumer PC segments.
In an email to CRN, Rahul Tikoo, senior vice president of Dell’s Client Product Group, said, “When you look at the overall performance and share gain, Dell continues to outpace the overall PC market despite numerous geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges. We believe the PC TAM (total addressable market) has reset to a higher level in a do-from-anywhere world, with growth and profitablity coming from commercial PCs and premium consumer PCs where we continue to drive investments that delight out customers.”
Another big market share winner was Apple Inc., with 2.7 million shipments and a year-over-year growth percentage of 18.6 percent. Apple and Lenovo did not return messages seeking comment by press time.
Gartner put the lion’s share of the blame for the market slide on flailing Chromebook numbers.
“After an unprecedented Chromebook surge in 2020 and early 2021, driven by demand from the U.S. educational market, Chromebook growth has tempered,” said Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. “It was a challenging quarter for the PC and Chromebook market to achieve growth, as this time last year the PC market registered its highest growth in decades.”
Channel partners told CRN that demand is still strong and the real problem they see is the supply chain snarl that has persisted over the last couple of years. Global numbers paint a similar picture, showing a softening PC market after two years of record growth. Harry Zarek, president of Richmond Hill, Ontario-based Compugen, said his company still sees strong demand – even if that demand doesn’t match the unprecedented PC grab sparked by the early pandemic days.
“The demand is going to get to a steady state,” Zarek said, noting that supply chain issues are still taking a toll on PC companies’ ability to deliver. “This is an opportunity for the OEMs and analysts to try to forecast what the ongoing demand will look like. This is the first cycle in a whole new market. It’s really up to the suppliers to help guide the market.”
Zarek said even with Chromebook sales dropping, education demand will remain stronger than before the pandemic – the key is trying to figure out where the new normal will settle. Now that school systems are more acquainted with the technology, they will very likely continue to be clients. “This is not that complicated,” he said. “We just need a lot of data. We need to ask the major school districts: What are you plans? Are you going to upgrade? It is still an evolving segment of the market and we’re all trying to learn how to best grab hold of it and be able to forecast.”
Dell’s Tikoo said the company will continue to boost its channel offerings. “We remain committed to and invested in the channel,” he said. “Our strategy is working – growth comes from both partners and Dell sellers. When our customers win, we all win.”
Responding to CRN’s earlier story about the global PC shipments, an HP spokesperson said in a statement, “The world of work continues to shift, with people working from home, from transformed offices or from a classroom, and we are delivering new devices. The company also touted its plan to acquire Poly for $3.3 billion to “accelerate our peripherals and workforce solutions strategies.”
