A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
Lenovo solidified its position as the leader in the traditional personal computer (PC) market as the segment reported a second consecutive quarter of growth, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC). In Q2 2024, Lenovo shipped 14.7 million units, capturing 22.7% of the market share.
HP followed closely behind with a 21.1% market share (13.7 million units shipped), followed by Dell (15.5% – 10.1 million units), Apple (8.8% – 5.7 million units), and Acer (6.8% – 4.4 million units). All other brands combined captured the remaining 16.3 million units.
This quarter marks the second consecutive period of growth for the traditional PC market, reversing a trend of seven consecutive quarters of decline. Total global PC shipments reached 64.9 million units, representing a 3% year-over-year increase.
"While the overall market benefited from favourable comparisons to 2023, weak results in China continued to hold the market back," says IDC. "Excluding China, worldwide shipments grew more than 5% year over year," IDC added.
According to IDC data, Apple's shipments surged the most (20.8% increase compared to Q2 2023), followed by Acer Group (13.7% increase). This suggests Apple is rapidly closing the gap with the leading PC manufacturers.
For the purposes of this report, IDC defines "traditional PCs" as desktops, notebooks, and workstations, excluding tablets and x86 servers.
"Two consecutive quarters of growth, combined with plenty of market hype around AI PCs and a less attractive but arguably more important commercial refresh cycle, seems to be what the PC market needed," says Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Device Trackers. "The buzz is clearly around AI, but a lot is happening with non-AI PC purchasing to make this mature market show signs of positivity."
"Outside the commercial refresh cycle, promotional activity from consumer-oriented brands and channels have helped bolster the PC segment," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "The market has also moved past the rock bottom pricing brought about by excess inventory last year."
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker gathers detailed market data in over 90 countries. It is considered authoritative source for data in the industry.