For the second year in a row, processor and PC makers have been pushing new products that enable local execution and acceleration of AI functions. Research from Canalys showed that the share of such PCs in the global market supply structure grew to 23% last quarter.
Image source: Dell
In absolute terms, the number of such PCs reached 15.4 million units last quarter. These included laptops and desktop computers equipped with central processors with a neural unit (NPU), which allows hardware-level acceleration of artificial intelligence functions. Consistently, the number of PCs of this class delivered in the fourth quarter increased by 18%.
Image source: Canalys
Overall, AI computers accounted for 17% of the primary market for the year, with Apple leading the expansion, equipping 54% of PCs of all brands shipped last year with the corresponding hardware features. Lenovo and HP Inc. lagged behind, but shared second place with a share of 12%, respectively. According to Canalys, the end of Windows 10 support will be the main factor encouraging customers to buy new PCs this year. Customs duties in the United States, which President Donald Trump has threatened to raise, could also pose a serious challenge to the global market.
CPU vendors have spread their marketing efforts across different price segments. Intel is trying to play in the high-end segment with its Lunar Lake processors, while AMD is trying to occupy positions in the premium and mid-price segments. One of the market pioneers, Qualcomm, after its debut in the high-end price category, is now trying to master price segments around $600 for a whole laptop. Even Apple is democratizing its core products to some extent, offering early-generation laptops at discounts, and they are in good demand in countries with less developed economies.
Almost a third of PC market participants believe that the end of the Windows 10 technical support cycle will be the main driver of sales this year. End customers are expected to be especially active in upgrading their PC fleets in the second half of the year. Upgrading the hardware or software capabilities of a PC is becoming more of a secondary consideration when making purchasing decisions than it was last year.
If we take into account only Windows PCs, AI-compatible models accounted for 26% of them in the fourth quarter, and they accounted for 15% of sales in the total mass of Windows PCs. Apple products accounted for 10.2% of the entire PC market in the quarter, and 45% of the systems supplied by the company were ready for hardware acceleration of AI. Lenovo came in second with a share of 15%, although in the PC segment as a whole it ranks first and has 25% of the market. HP Inc. follows with a share of 14% among PCs with AI functions, Dell in third place is further behind with 9% of the market. Huawei is an illustrative example, which occupies 3% of the market among PCs with AI acceleration, while its share in the PC market as a whole does not exceed 2%. A similar imbalance among the eight largest market players is noticeable only among Apple and Microsoft. The latter managed to achieve a 2 percent share in the AI segment, but in the PC market as a whole it is content with 0.4%.