On again, off again
Whether they were devices for distraction, work-from-home workhorses, or school-assigned study tools, personal computers were a hot commodity during the pandemic, with nearly 350 million shipped in 2021 — a near 10-year high.
As workers and students returned to normality, however, so did the figures for PC shipments. Indeed, waning sales and supply chain issues have blighted the industry this year with shipments falling in every quarter, most recently down 15% in Q3 according to new data from the IDC’s device tracker.
Peak PC?
Despite slightly different shipment counts, analysts from IDC and Gartner agree that this year’s drop offs are the most-extreme since data began to be collected in the mid-90s, regardless of which way you cut the figures.
As we split our time between various-sized screens, with smartphones and tablets becoming increasingly powerful, it’s not outlandish to say we might have seen “peak PC” even if shipment volumes are still above pre-pandemic levels. The industry isn’t in shut down mode just yet, but it is running a little slower than it did last year.
