According to Gartner, global PC shipments total 51.6 million units in Q1 2020-- a -12.3% Y-o-Y decline, the sharpest since 2013, and the direct result of the coronavirus pandemic after three consecutive quarters of growth.
The decline, of course, affect the EMEA market as shipments are down by -7% Y-o-Y to 16.8m units. Gartner says such decline is likely to continue throughout 2020, as the end of Q1 2020 saw a dramatic drop in both business and consumer PC purchases due to intense coronavirus lockdown measures across various countries in the region.
“The single most significant influencing factor for PC shipment decline was the coronavirus outbreak, which resulted in disruptions to both the supply and demand of PCs,” the analyst says. “Following the first lockdown in China in late January, there was lower PC production volume in February that turned into logistics challenges."
Lockdowns across multiple regions did lead to pockets of demand for remote workers and online classrooms, but vendors could not keep up. Either way, Gartner remarks, the Q1 2020 results underscore the growing economic uncertainties tightening PC spending, especially among SMBs. Such uncertainty is coupled with the end of the Windows 10 upgrade peak, and leads to enterprises shifting budgets away from PCs and towards strategic business continuity planning. We should also start seeing both enterprises and consumers extending PC life cycles on a more permanent basis as they look to preserve cash.
Despite the impact of the pandemic, the market share of the top 3 vendors remains unchanged from Q4 2019. Lenovo, HP and Dell account for 65.6% of Q1 2020 PC shipments, up from just over 60% in Q1 2019. Lenovo retains the top position with 24.4% market share, even if it sees shipments decline by -3.2% Y-o-Y. HP follows with a challenging Q2 2020, as shipments are down by -12.1% Y-o-Y after three consecutive quarters of growth. Dell comes 3rd as the only vendor to record positive results with 2.2% Y-o-Y growth.
