PC units down 5% in Q4 but up 10% on the year.

Author: EIS Release Date: Jan 21, 2022


Q4 PC unit shipments were down 5% y-o-y at 88.4 million units, says Gartner while, for the year, PC unit shipments reached 339.8 million units – a 9.9% increase on 2020.
 
 
“The fourth quarter’s decline only slightly tempered the PC market’s growth in 2021, which saw the highest shipment volume since 2013,” says Gartner’s Mitako Kitagawa, “during the pandemic, shipment growth has been supported by an ASP hike, resulting in higher revenues and a healthier market overall. As a result, annual PC shipment volumes are not expected to decline to pre-pandemic levels for at least 2-3 years.”
 
The top three vendors in the worldwide PC market remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2021, with Lenovo maintaining the No. 1 spot in shipments (see Table 1).
 
 
Table 1. Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q21 (Thousands of Units)
 
 
 
Company 4Q21 Shipments 4Q21 Market Share (%) 4Q20 Shipments 4Q20 Market Share (%) 4Q21-4Q20 Growth (%)
Lenovo 21,701 24.6 24,623 26.5 -11.9
HP Inc. 18,645 21.1 19,455 20.9 -4.2
Dell 17,196 19.5 15,944 17.1 7.9
Apple 6,846 7.7 6,447 6.9 6.2
Acer Group 6,189 7.0 6,798 7.3 -9.0
ASUS 6,102 6.9 5,359 5.8 13.9
Others 11,714 13.3 14,450 15.5 -18.9
Total 88,392 100.0 93,076 100.0 -5.0
Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs, ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface) and Chromebooks, but not iPads.
Source: Gartner (January 2022)
 
Lenovo’s worldwide PC shipments fell nearly 12% quartering the fourth quarter of 2021, the first period of year-over-year decline for the company since the first quarter of 2020. This decline was due to the slowed U.S. market, weak Chromebook demand and supply chain issues, which impeded Lenovo’s ability to supply PCs to enterprise customers. These factors also contributed to HP’s 4% year-over-year decline; however, HP’s decline was tempered by robust growth in the Asia Pacific market.
 
Dell gained market share this period after notching a fifth consecutive quarter of growth. Shipment volume exceeded 17 million units for the first time in the company’s history, led by strong performance in Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
 
Regional Overview
 
The U.S. PC market saw its second consecutive quarter of double-digit decline during the fourth quarter of 2021, with shipments declining 24.2% year-over-year. This decrease was largely driven by weak Chromebook shipments as demand from educational institutions continued to slow. While U.S. business PC sales were generally strong due to the recovering economy and the reopening of offices, supply chain delays impacted shipment volumes, especially in the large enterprise market. The holiday season also saw weaker PC sales than in 2020 due to modest consumer demand.
 
Dell secured the top spot in the U.S. PC market based on shipments with 28.5% market share. HP followed with 25.9% of the U.S. PC market share (see Table 2).
 
Table 2. Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q21 (Thousands of Units)
 
Company 4Q21 Shipments 4Q21 Market Share (%) 4Q20 Shipments 4Q20 Market Share (%) 4Q21-4Q20 Growth (%)
Dell 5,892 28.5 6,769 24.8 -13.0
HP Inc. 5,357 25.9 8,221 30.2 -34.8
Lenovo 3,097 15.0 4,820 17.7 -35.8
Apple 2,689 13.0 2,520 9.2 6.7
Acer Group 1,125 5.4 1,874 6.9 -40.0
ASUS 906 4.4 961 3.5 -5.8
Others 1,584 7.7 2,084 7.6 -24.0
Total 20,649 100.0 27,249 100.0 -24.2
Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs, ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface) and Chromebooks, but not iPads.
Source: Gartner (January 2022)
 
The EMEA PC market grew 7.4% year-over-year, reaching 26 million units, the highest volume in five years. This growth was led by business PC demand associated with increasing economic and social recovery, as many businesses, schools and universities began to return to in-person operations.
 
Excluding Japan, the Asia Pacific market grew by 11.5% year-over-year. The mobile PC market was particularly strong in the region, as many private enterprises pre-ordered extra mobile PCs in anticipation of potential market shortages.
 
Annual Overview: Pandemic Drove PC Market Revival
 
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 339.8 million units in 2021, a 9.9% increase from 2020 (see Table 3).
 
Table 3. Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2021 (Thousands of Units)
 
Company 2021 Shipments 2021 Market Share (%) 2020 Shipments 2020 Market Share (%) 2021-2020 Growth (%)
Lenovo 84,017 24.7 76,113 24.6 10.4
HP Inc. 74,180 21.8 68,181 22.1 8.8
Dell 59,681 17.6 50,736 16.4 17.6
Apple 25,983 7.6 22,008 7.1 18.1
Acer Group 24,335 7.2 22,460 7.3 8.3
ASUS 21,656 6.4 17,849 5.8 21.3
Others 49,917 14.7 51,731 16.7 -3.5
Total 339,769 100.0 309,079 100.0 9.9
Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs, ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface) and Chromebooks, but not iPads. 
 
Source: Gartner (January 2022)
 
After a long period of decline and occasional modest growth, the pandemic revived the PC industry, as evidenced by 2021’s continued strong growth. Gartner expects PC demand to slow for at least the next two years, but annual shipment volumes are not expected to decline to pre-pandemic levels in that period.