PC market's 'hot streak' continues despite chip shortages

The market continues to trend upwards despite ongoing component shortages

The global PC market continued to gain momentum in Q2, despite ongoing component shortages and logistics issues.

Figures from IDC found that global shipments grew 13.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, reaching 83.6 million units.

"The PC market's hot streak continued to drive heavy investments from the supply side including the entry of new vendors as well as additional spend from underdogs," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers.

"And while the top five continue to drive volume, the smaller vendors have helped drive growth by offering unique features or niche designs."

The analyst added that, though annual growth remains quite high, it has begun to taper off as the 13 per cent growth rate in Q2 is far lower than the 55.9 per cent spike in Q1 and 25.8 per cent increase in Q4 of 2020.

IDC previously said it expected the market to see double-digit growth of 18.1 per cent in 2021, with shipments reaching more than 357 million units.

It claimed demand will start to drop by 2022.

Neha Mahajan, senior research analyst with IDC's Devices and Displays Group, adds: "The market faces mixed signals as far as demand is concerned.

"With businesses opening back up, demand potential in the commercial segment appears promising. However, there are also early indicators of consumer demand slowing down as people shift spending priorities after nearly a year of aggressive PC buying."

The top players

Lenovo outweighed the top performing companies with Q2 shipments clocking in at 20 million, jumping 14.9 per cent on the same quarter last year.

HP came in second with shipments reaching 18 million units, a year on year growth of just 2.7 per cent.