Market experts concur that, due to certain licensing and asset lifecycle trends, Q4 will see better days
The anticipated surge in PC sales, driven by the buzz around AI-enabled laptops, has not materialized as expected. Industry analysts remain split on whether shipment numbers have slightly increased or decreased, according to a recent Gartner report.
AI-powered PCs were expected to revive the market for desktops and laptops, but sales have largely remained flat. In the firm’s latest data, global PC shipments for Q3 2024 reached 62.9m units, reflecting a 1.3% drop compared to that of the same quarter last year. This drop did come after a few quarters of modest gains, but the third quarter had not seen a significant boost despite a lineup of AI-enhanced Windows PCs for both Arm and x86 platforms.
The slow performance of these AI PCs is partly due to the uncertainty around what constitutes an “AI PC”. There is no consensus among manufacturers, and some early adopters have reported poor performance, particularly with certain applications on Arm-based systems.
However, Gartner is still optimistic about the future, predicting a rise in PC demand toward the end of 2024, with stronger growth anticipated in 2025, aligning with a major refresh cycle. Canalys, another research firm, supports this outlook, citing a 1.3% year-on-year increase, bringing Q3 shipments to 66.4m units. It suggests that the market recovery is underway, aided by the need for businesses to upgrade to Windows 11 to avoid extended support fees for Windows 10.
Another factor supporting their optimism is the introduction of new AI-centric processors, which could encourage consumers to replace really outdated machines, although consumer interest has been somewhat lackluster.
In regional performance, the US market showed positive growth, up by 5.6% year-on-year, while the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region saw a slight decline of 1.5%. The Asia Pacific region experienced a sharper drop of 8.5%, driven largely by a 10% slump in China due to weak government demand for desktop systems, according to Gartner data.
