PC shipments had a rough first quarter for all of the same reasons as everything that isn’t a Clorox wipe or N95 mask. People just weren’t ready to drop a ton of money on a new device. The impact of COVID-19 was lessened slightly by IT departments and individuals adapting to the new remote working realty, but the numbers were far from ideal overall, due in no small part to issues with the supply, as the virus hit China and other parts of Asia.
According to numbers from Gartner, Q2 has seen the beginning of a rebound. It’s not a huge bump, mind, but at 2.8% year-over-year, it’s a notable increase after a rough first quarter. There are a couple of reasons for the growth here. First is the aforementioned interest in upgrading home setups for work and school. Second is from retailers, which have reopened in a number of locations and have begun to refill shelves after being cut off via the supply chain.
Source: Gartner
Lenovo stayed at the number one spot, with HP following close behind. The companies saw 4.2% and 17.1% increase in shipments, respectively. Dell, Apple and Acer rounded out the top five. All told, the U.S. market is up 3.5% for the quarter, as well. Mobile computers in particular saw the biggest growth, helping to curb some of the attrition among desktops.
Notably, Gartner believes the growth will only be temporary, so take the good news where you can get it, PC makers. “[T]his uptick in mobile PC demand will not continue beyond 2020, as shipments were mainly boosted by short-term business needs due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa says in the release.
