IDC: traditional PC sales boomed in Q420

With the pandemic still in full swing, research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) says that traditional PCs (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) continue to be in-demand consumer technology.

Q420 saw global shipments grow 26.1% year over year to 91.6 million units, according to preliminary results from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. The same category of devices grew 13.1% year over year for the whole of 2020 with the catalysts being working from home, remote learning, and restored consumer demand.

"Every segment of the supply chain was stretched to its limits as production once again lagged behind demand during the quarter," said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers.

"Not only were PC makers and ODMs dealing with component and production capacity shortages, but logistics remained an issue as vendors were forced to resort to air freight, upping costs at the expense of reducing delivery times," he said. ODM stands for original design manufacturer.

To put things into perspective, the last time the PC market saw annual growth of this magnitude was in 2010, when the market grew 13.7%. A lot has changed in those 10 years, including six years of PC market decline, as well as a year of flat growth. The question now is how long this resurgence will last, IDC said.

"Demand is pushing the PC market forward and all signs indicate this surge still has a way to go," said Ryan Reith, Program VP with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

"The obvious drivers for last year's growth centred around work-from-home and remote learning needs, but the strength of the consumer market should not be overlooked. We continue to see gaming PCs and monitor sales at all-time highs and Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market. 

"In retrospect, the pandemic not only fuelled PC market demand but also created opportunities that resulted in a market expansion."

Top 5 companies, worldwide traditional PC shipments, market share, and year-over-year growth, Q420 (Preliminary results, shipments are in thousands of units)
Company	Q420 shipments	Q420 market share	Q419 shipments	Q419 market share	Q420/Q419 growth
1. Lenovo	23,122	25.2%	17,918	24.7%	29.0%
2. HP	19,130	20.9%	17,185	23.7%	11.3%
3. Dell Technologies	15,797	17.2%	12,463	17.2%	26.8%
4. Apple	7,349	8.0%	4,927	6.8%	49.2%
5. Acer Group	6,551	7.2%	4,418	6.1%	48.3%
Others	19,641	21.4%	15,712	21.6%	25.0%
Total	91,590	100.0%	72,622	100.0%	26.1%
Source: IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, January 11, 2021

Top 5 companies, worldwide traditional PC shipments, market share, and year-over-year growth, calendar year 2020 (Preliminary results, shipments are in thousands of units)
Company	2020 shipments	2020 market share	2019 shipments	2019 market share	2020/2019 growth
1. Lenovo	72,669	24.0%	64,855	24.2%	12.0%
2. HP	67,646	22.4%	62,935	23.5%	7.5%
3. Dell Technologies	50,298	16.6%	46,546	17.4%	8.1%
4. Apple	23,102	7.6%	17,894	6.7%	29.1%
5. Acer Group	20,989	6.9%	17,080	6.4%	22.9%
Others	67,901	22.4%	58,357	21.8%	16.4%
Total	302,605	100.0%	267,667	100.0%	13.1%
Source: IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, January 11, 2021

Notes:

• Some IDC estimates prior to financial earnings reports. Data for all companies are reported for calendar periods.

• Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the company/brand under which they are sold.

• Traditional PCs include desktops, notebooks, and eorkstations and do not include tablets or x86 servers. Detachable tablets and slate tablets are part of the Personal Computing Device Tracker but are not addressed here.

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker gathers detailed market data in over 90 countries. The research includes historical and forecast trend analysis among other data.