The sales market for laptops and desktop computers has suffered a considerable drop in its global sales by the end of this year 2022, which has just ended, according to people from the firm. IDC.
Such a situation would represent a delicate moment for any type of industry, but for this particular case there would actually be a very specific explanation of what is happening globally.
Desktop computers and laptops have gradually become specialized work tools. Where technology has advanced considerably in terms of hardware.
But at the same time we have the industry of smartphones and other smart devices that are also capable of performing multiple functions that eliminate the need to acquire a larger device and that is not so easy to move.
Is the PC and laptop market doomed? the short answer is no. Since it is necessary to consider a robust series of factors to gauge the real context of those sales figures that could sound alarming in any other circumstance.
Why global computer sales fell 28%
The most recent report of IDC reveals that global sales of computers during this closure amounted to 67.2 million units. This means that they fell a 28.1%, during the last quarter of 2022, said percentage is relative to the same period of the previous year.
But in its annual average, the sales of these equipment actually fell by only 15.6%, which translates into 292.3 million units sold all over the planet. That is a huge number. Although compared to the previous year it still represents a significant contraction.
The biggest falls were for Dell with 37.2% and for HP with 29% less than in 2021. Dell sold 10.8 million computers in this final period. Somewhat far from its previous figure of 15.5 million units, while HP shipments fell to 13.2 million from its 18.6 million PCs achieved in the same period in 2021.
Manzana was the least affected as it only decreased 2.1%, having shipped 7.5 million Macs in Q4 2022 compared to 7.7 million, a very close record for the same period in 2021.
But the reason, as the same report explains it, would be very simple: 2020 and 2021 were historic years of sales for the computer market. Social isolation and the productive dynamics of the pandemic boosted the market to levels not seen before.
So now, that everything is back to relative normality, there is less demand from consumers.
