After Long Slump, PC Market Shows Signs of Stabilizing

The PC market has been in a year-long slump amid weak demand, but the worst may be finally over, according to Gartner, which sees signs of stabilization after seven quarters of decline.

In Q2, PC shipments were still down 16.6% year over year, but that’s an improvement from the previous quarters, where shipments dropped by around 30%. 

(Credit: Gartner)

“The rate of decline in the PC market has slowed, indicating that shipment volumes may have reached their lowest point,” Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa says in the report. In total, PC vendors shipped almost 60 million units during the second quarter. 

Rival research firms IDC(Opens in a new window) and Canalys(Opens in a new window) released similar reports. Apple was the only vendor to see shipment increases in Q2, they found, but shipment declines for PC makers appears to be easing as they make progress in reducing their product stockpiles.

“An annual shipment decline was expected in the second quarter of 2023, but there are indications that many of the issues that have affected the sector are beginning to abate,” says Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt. According to him, rising PC activation rates from users have been “tracking stronger” than PC sales from suppliers to retailers. 

(Credit: IDC)

Still, confidence in the market remains shaky. IDC analyst Ryan Reith notes that PC makers “don't want to be caught with short supply like they were in 2020 and 2021, but at the same time, many seem hesitant to make the big bet on a market rebound.”

The other challenge is that many consumers already upgraded their PCs during the pandemic, reducing the need to buy new hardware. Reith adds: “On the consumer side, we're seeing a return to pre-pandemic habits where computing needs are shared across multiple devices, and we firmly believe the consumer wallet will favor smartphones over the PC.” 

But in good news for consumers, weak sales in the interim can mean deep PC discounts. According to IDC, the average selling price for PCs has drops in recent months, a trend that’s expected to continue through the year.