PC shipments grew by one percent last year, and 2025 is fraught with uncertainty

IDC specialists managed to determine that at the end of last year, a total of 262.7 million desktop PCs, laptops and workstations were shipped to the global market, which is 1% more than the 2023 result. At the same time, this year, the desire of suppliers to quickly saturate the market with PC models with local AI acceleration will face a number of macroeconomic obstacles, creating uncertainty in forecasting the dynamics of changes in PC supplies.

Image source: Lenovo

Individually, traditional PCs shipped 68.9 million in the fourth quarter, representing 1.8% year-over-year growth. The rise in demand for PCs in the last quarter was facilitated by a subsidy program launched in China, and in Western countries, discounts and promotions traditional for the end of the calendar year had a stimulating effect on demand. In the corporate segment, customers began to update their equipment fleets in light of the end of support for Windows 10 from October 2025.

The threat of higher tariffs on Chinese-made equipment in the United States slightly increased component purchases by PC manufacturers late last year, but in relative terms this factor did not have a significant impact on the overall market. The AI ​​PC topic is also not yet becoming a driver of demand for new PCs, since manufacturers cannot offer affordable prices, and consumers cannot understand in which area these computers best demonstrate their new functionality. Over time, the popularity of such PCs will inevitably grow, but this process will be slower than originally thought.

Image source: IDC

In the fourth quarter, the growth leader in the number of PCs shipped was Apple, which added 17.3% and increased its market share from 5.9 to 7%. This helped it maintain fourth place, and Asustek Computer, in fifth, increased its supply volumes by 11.7%, but was limited to 4.7% of the global market. Lenovo remains the leader with 24.5% of the market, which increased shipments in the fourth quarter by 4.8% to 16.9 million PCs. HP Inc. ranks second and third, respectively. and Dell showed a decrease in PC shipments by 1.7 and 0.2%, respectively.

Image source: IDC

Based on the results of 2024 in general, HP Inc. in its second place, PC shipments slightly increased by 0.1% to 53 million units, but Dell still showed a decrease of 2.2% to 39.1 million units. Lenovo in first place added 4.7% to 61.8 million PCs, increasing its market share to 23.5%. At the end of the year, the leader in terms of growth rate was Asustek Computer, which ranks fifth, which increased its supply volumes by 6.4% to 17.9 million units. Apple in fourth place was more modest with 4.5% growth, but it controls 8.7% of the global traditional PC market versus Asus’ 6.8%.