PC demand subdued by supply chain issues in Q3 - IDC

The market experienced its sixth consecutive quarter of growth but was stifled by continuing supply issues

Supply chain challenges hampered the global PC market during the third quarter of 2021, according to figures from IDC.

The analyst's data found that shipments of PCs, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations, reached 86.7 million units, up 3.9 per cent year on year.

It marks the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for the PC market, IDC claims, as the onset of the pandemic has led to a surge in demand while also contributing to component shortages and other supply challenges.

"The PC industry continues to be hampered by supply and logistical challenges and unfortunately these issues have not seen much improvement in recent months," said research manager for IDC's Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers, Jitesh Ubrani.

"Given the current circumstances, we are seeing some vendors reprioritise shipments amongst various markets, allowing emerging markets to maintain growth momentum while some mature markets begin to slow."

Lenovo tops the list

Lenovo retained its number one position after emerging as the top vendor for Q3 2020 and Q2 2021.

The vendor saw year on year growth of 3.1 per cent on Q3 2020, clocking in shipments of 19.7 million units.

HP followed in second, shipping 17.5 million units for the third quarter. However, this was a 5.8 per cent year on year drop from its Q3 2020 figures.

Dell rounded up the top three with a 26.6 per cent spike, shipping 15.1 million units globally.

The view from the US

Senior research analyst of Devices and Displays at IDC, Neha Mahajan, provided insight into how the US market has been affected.

"Bottlenecked supply chains and ongoing logistic challenges led the US PC market into its first quarter of annual shipment decline since the beginning of the pandemic," she said.

"After a year of accelerated buying driven by the shift to remote work and learning, there's also been a comparative slowdown in PC spending and that has caused some softening of the US PC market today.

"Yet, supply clearly remains behind demand in key segments with inventory still below normal levels."