PC sales are down but can everyone please chill out

pcgamer.com:

We've already had news of CPU(opens in new tab), graphics cards(opens in new tab) and PC monitor(opens in new tab) sales being hit. So, it's no surprise that the latest data from analysts shows PC sales themselves are dipping. But if you look at the broader context, there's absolutely no reason to panic. Actually, taken in the round, PC sales have held up remarkably well.

As reported by the Verge(opens in new tab), both IDC and Canalys have PC sales down by around 30% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022. Specifically, IDC puts the figure at 29% with a total of 56.9 million shipments while Canalys puts it at 32.6% and 54 million units. The figures are for PCs in general, gaming PCs in particular aren't separated out.

Either way, then, it's a hefty drop compared to last year and the fourth consecutive quarter of fall in PC shipments. Apple, incidentally, was the hardest hit of the big personal computer brands, suffering a 40% drop. Ouch.

Of course, the usual narrative around these stories is that falls were bound to happen after a huge boom in sales during the pandemic. However, IDC notes that sales are lower now than before the pandemic implying that something beyond a mere return to normal is happening. Canalys reckons that higher interest rates are reducing demand.

Of course, a simpler explanation is that people bought a tonne of PCs during the whole work-and-game-from-home period during the pandemic, they don't already need to replace all those PCs, so a drop off was inevitable regardless of any economic downturn.

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