PC Shipments Grew 26.1 Percent in 4Q20

With the pandemic still in full swing, traditional were once again an in-demand consumer technology. The fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20) saw global shipments grow 26.1% year over year to 91.6 million units, according to preliminary results from IDC. The same category of devices grew 13.1% year over year for the full year 2020 with the catalysts being work from home, remote learning, and restored consumer demand.

"Every segment of the supply chain was stretched to its limits as production once again lagged behind demand during the quarter," said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers. "Not only were PC makers and ODMs dealing with component and production capacity shortages, but logistics remained an issue as vendors were forced to resort to air freight, upping costs at the expense of reducing delivery times.

To put things into perspective, the last time the PC market saw annual growth of this magnitude was 2010 when the market grew 13.7%. A lot has changed in those ten years, including six years of PC market decline, as well as a year of flat growth. The question now is how long this resurgence will last.

"Demand is pushing the PC market forward and all signs indicate this surge still has a way to go," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "The obvious drivers for last year's growth centered around work from home and remote learning needs, but the strength of the consumer market should not be overlooked. We continue to see gaming PCs and monitor sales at all-time highs and Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market. In retrospect, the pandemic not only fueled PC market demand but also created opportunities that resulted in a market expansion.

Lenovo was the most succesful company with over 23 million units shipped, catching 25,2% of the market. Year over year growth was 29%. HP was second with 19 million shipments (20,9% market share) and YoY growth of 11,3%. Dell came third with 26,8 growth, Apple was fourth with 49,2% growth, while Acer marked 48,3% growth that led it to fifth place.

For the whole year 2020, Lenovo was first with 72,7 million shipments (24% market share) and 12% YoY growth. HP came second with 67,6 million units shipped (22,4% market share) marking 7,5% growth. Dell was third in 2020 with 50,2 million shipments and 29,1% growth. Apple cught fourth place with 29,1% growth, while Acer had 22,9% growth that led the company to fifth place.