Are the bumper sales years for PCs and notebooks over?

The bumper years for global computing manufacturers seem to be over for the time being. While pandemic year 2021 saw sales break record after record, the post-Covid era reveals a different reality. Since 2022, PC sales have been falling. This includes desktop computers and notebooks, and, depending on the source, workstations and tablets.

In Switzerland, this decline in sales has been evident for years, with the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years putting a temporary brake on the downward trend. Statista, however, has forecast a further decrease in notebook sales, as well as stagnation in sales of desktop PCs, for the coming years.

Record drop in computer sales

Market researchers at Gartner also analysed PC sales in 2022, reporting a global slump of 16.2 per cent. Compared year-on-year, the fourth quarter of 2022 proved particularly weak, with 28.5 per cent fewer PCs sold worldwide. This was the sharpest quarterly decline since records began in the mid-1990s.

2023 turnaround yet to emerge

Things don’t seem to be letting up in 2023 either. According to market research firm IDC, sales of PCs (desktops, notebooks and workstations) dropped by 29 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year. Sales figures for PCs slumped to pre-Covid levels in the first quarter of 2023. While 59.2 million units were sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2019, manufacturers shipped only 56.9 million units in the first three months of the current year. Experts have chalked this up to market saturation in the wake of the heavy demand experienced during the pandemic years, as well as inflation.

Digitec Galaxus performs well in worldwide comparisons

Digitec Galaxus is also feeling the lull in consumer appetite for notebooks and desktop computers. Nevertheless, the decline in sales is modest compared to the global slump. A glance at the past five quarters reveals a decrease in sales of desktop computers of between 6 and 13 per cent. As for notebooks, the most significant sales decrease was 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the online department store actually recorded a slight increase of 0.3 per cent. It’s probably still too early to call this a turnaround.

How about you? Did you get a notebook or computer during the pandemic? Did you recently buy a MacBook? Or are you waiting until inflation subsides to buy a new device? Let the Community know in the comments!