The PC market ended 2021 with a bang, as fourth-quarter shipments exceeded 90 million for the second year in a row, according to Canalys. Worldwide shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations grew 1% year on year in the fourth quarter to 92 million units over 91 million a year ago.

This pulled up total shipments for full-year 2021 to 341 million units, 15% higher than last year, 27% higher than 2019, and the largest shipment total since 2012. Furthermore, the industry saw strong revenue gains, with the total value of Q4 shipments estimated at US$70 billion, an annual increase of 11% over 4Q20. For the full year, revenue passed $250 billion in 2021 against $220 billion in 2020, up 15%, highlighting the seismic transformation in the industry.

The two-year compound annual growth rate of 13% from 2019 emphasizes how dramatically the importance of PCs has grown since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notebooks and mobile workstations continued to lead the charge, with shipments of these devices growing 16% in 2021 to reach 275 million units. Desktop and desktop workstation shipments increased 7% in 2021 to reach 66 million units.

Lenovo took first place in the PC market in Q4 with total shipments of 21.7 million units, an annual decline of 6.5%. It was also the biggest-shipping vendor for full-year 2021, hitting a record 82.1 million units, a 13.1% increase over 2020. HP ranked second, with Q4 shipments of 18.7 million units helping it reach 74.1 million units in 2021, a growth of 9.5% over 2020. Third-placed Dell posted stellar growth of 8.9% in Q4 to reach 17.2 million units and increased its market share by over 1%. Dell ended 2021 with total shipments of 59.3 million units for the year. Apple came fourth with Q4 growth of 9.0% and full-year growth of 28.3%, making it the best-performing vendor in the top five. It shipped 7.8 million units in Q4 and 29.0 million units in full-year 2021. Acer rounded out the top five for both Q4 and the full year, posting shipments of 6.6 million in Q4 and 24.4 million units in 2021.