PC Sales See Biggest Annual Growth Since 2012

News
By Andrew E. Freedman
published

Don't say goodbye to the PC just yet. While many have been predicting its slow demise in favor of phones and tablets, analyses from both Gartner and IDC show sales grew year over year in Q2 2018. IDC is more bullish, pointing to a 2.7 percent year-over-year increase as the strongest since Q1 2012's 4.2 percent rise, while Gartner points to a smaller 1.4 percent growth spurt, saying this is the first quarter of year-over-year growth since Q1 2012. 

IDC and Gartner both wrote in releases this week that businesses picked up the slack here, which offset continuing decline in the consumer space. IDC, however, also suggests that the market for Chromebooks, premium notebooks and gaming PCs helped, especially as GPU prices have started to drop.

"PC shipment growth in the second quarter of 2018 was driven by demand in the business market, which was offset by declining shipments in the consumer segment," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "In the consumer space, the fundamental market structure, due to changes on PC user behavior, still remains and continues to impact market growth." However, the analyst warns that when companies stop replacing machines to upgrade to Windows 10, growth may stall.

The two firms had slightly different measurements. Gartner's included desktops, laptops and "ultramobile premiums" like the Microsoft Surface, but didn't count Chromebooks or iPads. IDC counts desktops, notebooks and workstations, but not detachable 2-in-1s.

The big winners here were Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple and Acer, all of which grew in sales year over year, according to both analyst firms. Additional companies, bundled in as "others," dropped in terms of growth.

There has been some increased competition in the desktop and laptop space that could continue to spur innovation. Both Intel and AMD are offering more power with renewed competition. As the cryptomining craze dies down, gaming PCs and workstations are also becoming more affordable again. That doesn't mean this growth spurt is here to stay, but it's good news for vendors looking at increased innovation and competition to keep pushing out new computers that sell widely.

Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Barty1884
    Between Dell, HP etc..... isn't this typical of most business models? 5-6 years upgrade paths..... overhauls of entire office setups
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    21138420 said:
    Between Dell, HP etc..... isn't this typical of most business models? 5-6 years upgrade paths..... overhauls of entire office setups

    Most HR departments would probably squeeze the budget further than that. PC and software upgrades are the scourge of overhead budgets in most companies.
    Reply
  • xeonight
    well when the latest Micro$oft Winblows 10 update basically DISABLES certain internal technologies that older hardware rely on (ex. HPET), people just go buy a new computer because they don't want to deal with the problem, ESPECIALLY when a full OS Reinstall has the same problem after it re-updates to 1803 again...
    Reply
  • why_wolf
    21138420 said:
    Between Dell, HP etc..... isn't this typical of most business models? 5-6 years upgrade paths..... overhauls of entire office setups

    More or less. Most think this is is probably the peak of the Enterprise upgrade curve. Probably stay high for another year or two as businesses switch from Windows 7 to 10 and then go back down again for another half to full decade.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    21139124 said:
    21138420 said:
    Between Dell, HP etc..... isn't this typical of most business models? 5-6 years upgrade paths..... overhauls of entire office setups

    Most HR departments would probably squeeze the budget further than that. PC and software upgrades are the scourge of overhead budgets in most companies.

    It goes higher up the chain than that in my experience. All the way to the CEO. Corporate leadership bookworm keepers feel that budgeting for workstation upgrades is not worth the bottom line. My previous company for example, EMC (now owned by Dell), held onto Windows XP Pentium IV based workstations from the early '00s through 2011 before finally upgrading. Seriously. A storage/computer company not giving their employees the latest tech. Full retard.

    Anyway, consumers will always need power that smart phones and tablets cannot do. I see those devices as more of an accessory than a fully replacement desktop or power laptop useful device. Also, more and more people these days are getting into video editing and other productivity applications which cannot be done on said devices. That and they need bigger display screens to use said apps on. So no, PCs will never die out or be replaced.

    This is similar to those who say digital cameras are dying out in demand because smart phones take good photos. Well for the basic point-and-shooter, that may be the case. But a lot of people out there still want a dedicated digital camera for better shots, be it handheld point and shoot or all the way up to SLRs with big zoom lenses.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    21139668 said:
    It goes higher up the chain than that in my experience. All the way to the CEO. Corporate leadership bookworm keepers feel that budgeting for workstation upgrades is not worth the bottom line. My previous company for example, EMC (now owned by Dell), held onto Windows XP Pentium IV based workstations from the early '00s through 2011 before finally upgrading. Seriously. A storage/computer company not giving their employees the latest tech.

    Yes that is pretty ridiculous. Getting any kind of software or hardware upgrades is like pulling teeth, but it is what it is, companies gotta make money. But not getting the latest tech can be a gigantic pain.
    Reply
  • therealduckofdeath
    21138420 said:
    Between Dell, HP etc..... isn't this typical of most business models? 5-6 years upgrade paths..... overhauls of entire office setups

    5-6 year upgrade pattern... That sounds like an amazing utopian dream. Most companies seems to go by the method of, "if it's not on fire it works", when it comes to PC upgrades. "You need 10 minutes to boot your desk PC? Then just come into work 10 minutes earlier! Problem solved." :)
    Reply
  • alan_rave
    "Make PC affordable again"
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    PC will ALWAYS have a place. Not going to die out anytime soon.
    Reply
  • Brian_R170
    It would be nice to see a breakdown of the various types of PCs (traditional laptops, 2-in-1's, traditional business desktops, gaming desktops, etc.)
    Reply