The PC market worldwide has bounced back in Q2 of 2020 with the increasing demand for PC shipments amid the pandemic.
The logistics and supply chain problems have somewhat recovered to meet ongoing consumer demand. However, this recovery could be short-termed – claims research firms IDC and Gartner. According to Gartner, PC shipments globally have reached 64.8 million units in the second quarter of 2020 – which is a 2.8% YOY surge. Similarly, International Data Corporation also revealed that PC shipments increasing to 11.2% and reached 72.3 million units. Both the research firms have analyzed the PC marketplace differently; however, both indicated a surge.
Gartner included the notebook PCs, desk-based PCs, and ultramobile premiums like Microsoft Surface and did not count on Chromebooks or iPads. On the other hand, the IDC study included notebooks (including Chromebooks), desktops, and workstations. IDC kept aside tablets as well as x86 Servers.
As mentioned by Mikako Kitagawa, Research Director at Gartner, in the company blog post, “The second quarter of 2020 represented a short-term recovery for the worldwide PC market, led by exceptionally strong growth in EMEA…After the PC supply chain was severely disrupted in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the growth this quarter was due to distributors and retail channels restocking their supplies back to near-normal levels.”
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Mobile PC growth was high, driven by factors like business continuity for widespread remote working and online education. As per the Gartner study, this accelerating mobile PC demand is not expected to continue beyond 2020. The shipments were primarily augmented by the temporary business needs, given the adverse impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
According to Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager at IDC, as stated in the company blog post, “What remains to be seen is if this demand and high level of usage continues during a recession and into the post-COVID world since budgets are shrinking while schools and workplaces reopen.” As per the IDC statistics, HP covered 25% of the market with over 17% percent growth, and Lenovo took hold of 24.1% of the PC market.
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It can be concluded that HP and Lenovo contended to top the vendors’ list in Q2. As per Gartner, Lenovo got 25% of the market, whereas HP took 24.9% of the market share. As a whole, HP had a strong quarter, rising above Q1 supply chain concerns and rising more than 17%. IDC also claimed that the US market had its significant quarter since 2009, with shipments exceeding 21 million – presenting a double-digit growth. Undoubtedly, the shelter-in-place orders spanning the US added to the surging technology demand.
