Apple leads decline in global PC shipments in first quarter

Apple’s global personal computer shipments dropped by more than 40 per cent in the first quarter of this year, leading the decline in the overall market as it battles weak demand, the International Data Corporation has said.

Personal computer shipments by the US technology company, which ranks fourth on the IDC study, fell to 4.1 million units in the three months ended March, compared with 6.9 million in the first quarter of last year, according to preliminary results from the US research company’s quarterly industry report.

The market share of the iPhone maker, which has a broad range of Mac desktops and MacBook laptops, also dropped to 7.2 per cent, from 8.6 per cent a year earlier.

Overall, global personal computer shipments declined by about 29 per cent to 56.9 million units in the first quarter of this year, from 80 million a year ago as a glut in stocks and a worsening macroeconomic environment hit already weak demand, the report said.

Lenovo, the world’s biggest personal computer company, maintained its lead despite shipments dropping by about a third to 12.7 million. Its market share also dropped to 22.4 per cent, from 22.8 per cent in the first quarter of last year.

US company Hewlett-Packard was second in terms of market share, with 12 million unit shipped, down by about a quarter annually.

However, its market share rose to 21.1 per cent, from 19.7 per cent a year ago, making it the only major vendor to post growth in this category.

The shipments of Dell Technologies, another US company, fell by about 31 per cent to 9.5 million units while Taiwan’s Asus rounded off the top five despite its shipments declining more than 30 per cent annually to 3.9 million.

The rest of the vendors accounted for 14.7 million units shipped in the first quarter, down 26 per cent on an annual basis, and a market share of close to 25 per cent.

“Though channel inventory has depleted in the last few months, it’s still well above the healthy four-to-six week range,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager of the IDC’s mobility and consumer device trackers.

“Even with heavy discounting, channels and PC makers can expect elevated inventory to persist into the middle of the year and, potentially, into the third quarter.”

The preliminary results indicate that demand has moved on from the high Covid-era level, with the volume of shipments during the first quarter noticeably lower than the 60.6 million and 59.2 million units shipped in the same period in 2018 and 2019, respectively, the IDC said.