HP joins the growing list of PC companies facing a component shortage before the holiday season. As we previously reported, laptops and mobile devices are in high demand as workers and students make the switch to a virtual environment. PC manufacturers are struggling to meet the new demand while microelectronic suppliers are seeing a surge in business, and that's having a ripple effect throughout the industry. That might make it hard to find any of the most in-demand models, like the ones on our list of Best Gaming Laptops, this holiday season.
In the company's recent earnings call, HP CEO Enrique Lores and CFO Steve Fieler spoke about third-quarter metrics and expectations for Q4 of 2020. According to Lores, the biggest delay is due to supply chain issues. More specifically, a CPU and panel shortage.
"We expect industry-wide CPU and panel constraints to negatively impact our ability to meet demand, especially for notebooks, which were constrained top-line growth," said Fieler (via Seeking Alpha).
While desktop sales dropped 29% last quarter, laptop and notebook sales accounted for a 7% total boost in quarterly sales. Workstation sales also dropped 30% in the previous quarter.
Fieler attributes the rise in notebook sales to the demand for assets like Chromebooks in educational environments. The work-from-home shift seems to have a direct correlation with the change in sales.
HP's Managed Print department also experienced a change in sales this quarter, with revenue dropping a total of 29% compared to 40% in April 2020.
