PC sales continue to grow compared to last year. In the second quarter of 2021, the PC market has experienced a growth of 13.2% over the same period of 2020, which means that in the last three months a total of 83.6 million of these devices have been sold worldwide, according to data from the consulting firm IDC, for the 72.3 million of last year.
Neither component shortages nor logistical problems have slowed the growth in computer sales, which in the year and a bit so far of the pandemic have seen the biggest increase in the last decade. Not since 2014, when 308 million PCs were purchased according to Statista data, has a figure as high as that of 2020 been reached, a year that closed with some 300 million of these devices sold. In the two quarters so far in 2021, around 170 million have already been sold.
A circumstance that only aggravates the semiconductor crisis in which all industries that need this fundamental component for the operation of a multitude of devices, from mobiles to cars, including household appliances, are currently immersed. As we have already reported in TechBriefly, one of the main causes, although not the only one, of this shortage, is the spectacular increase in demand for personal devices as a result of the rise in teleworking and home studies due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, quarterly growth appears to have leveled off after the continued rise the sector experienced throughout 2020: 53 million in Q1, 72 in Q2, 81 in Q3, and 92 in Q4. The first three months of 2021 already saw a slowdown in sales with a slight decline to 84 million PCs sold, a figure almost identical to that recorded in the second quarter of this year.
Sales, therefore, remain at the highest quarterly records in the last decade, but IDC experts point out that the market is tending to stabilize after months of skyrocketing as consumers shift spending priorities after a year of “aggressive PC buying”.
Top vendors
In terms of market share by brand, Lenovo repeated as the manufacturer that sold the most PCs in Q2 2021, with a total of 20 million devices sold, accounting for 23.9% of the total. Good news for the Chinese, as it represents an increase of 2.5 million devices sold more than in the same period of 2020.
HP, meanwhile, was the second global manufacturer by the number of transactions with a total of 18.59 million sales, representing a 22.2% market share, similar figures to those it recorded during the same period last year. Dell, with 14 million and a 16.7% market share, was third, Apple, with 6 million and 7.4% of the total, fourth, and Acer, with 6 million and 7.3% of the total, fifth.
