Worldwide PC shipments declined 7.3% in the first quarter of 2022

pcgamer.com:

Global PC shipments declined by 7.3% in the first quarter of 2022 with Chromebooks making up most of the decline. When Chromebooks are removed, the retail PC market actually grew by 3.3%.

According to a report from research firm Gartner, worldwide PC shipments totalled 77.5 million, a 7.3% drop when compared to the first quarter of 2021. Gartner cites pandemic related supply chain issues, changes in work behaviour and slowing consumer demand as reasons for the decline. The latter was particularly evident in eastern Europe where the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused demand in the region to collapse.

The drop in Chromebook sales was attributed to slowing educational demand in the US, where Chromebooks are widely used by teachers and students.

Though the Gartner report doesn't mention gaming specifically, if one removes the impact of falling Chromebook sales, it would appear as though gaming related sales remain strong. While GPU prices have dropped, their pricing remains elevated, indicating ongoing demand for gaming PC purchases.

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The report shows that Lenovo remains the best selling PC vendor by shipments, followed by HP, Dell, Apple and Asus. If you're surprised by Apple sitting back in fourth, it actually saw its sales increase by 8.6% year-over-year, spurred on by the strengths of its M1 processors. In contrast, Lenovo and HP saw declines of 12.6% and 17.8% respectively. Asus saw a whopping 20.6% growth year-over-year.

Looking at the regional results, the US saw the largest drop as a result of the weak Chromebook