PC Shipments Rise 1% in 3Q; Chromebook Sales Post First Double-Digit Year-Over-Year Decline, Gartner Says

PC shipments totaled 84.1 million units in the third quarter, according to preliminary data. Fourth-quarter demand is expected to be driven by replacements rather than new units, Gartner said.

“As many schools worldwide reopened, there was no longer an immediate need for PCs and Chromebooks to support at-home education,” Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner, said in a statement.

Lower demand from education, despite back-to-school sales, drove a 17% year-over-year decline in Chromebook shipments, which Gartner now includes in its PC market results.

It was the first double-digit year-over-year decline in Chromebook sales since its introduction to the market in 2011, according to Gartner.

While business PC demand remained strong, driven by economic recovery in key regions and the return of some workers to offices, Ms. Kitagawa said, the growth was concentrated in the desktop segment as semiconductor shortages continued to constrain laptop shipments.

The component shortages are expected to stretch into the first half of 2022, she said.

Strength on the business side helped Dell Technologies Inc., which saw the largest year-over-year growth in unit shipments among PC vendors, Gartner said.

Lenovo Group Ltd. retained the No. 1 spot, followed by HP Inc., which had its second consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline in shipments driven by the weaker Chromebook demand in education, Gartner said.

In the U.S., the PC market declined 8.8% overall, driven by lower laptop and Chromebook sales. Dell took the top vendor spot in the U.S., leapfrogging over HP.

  Write to Maria Armental at [email protected]