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PC shipments during the fourth quarter of 2024 grew 1.8% from the prior year with global volumes reaching 68.9 million shipments, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. For the full year, PC vendors shipped 262.7 million PCs, up 1% from 2023. Looking ahead to 2025, the PC industry has several tailwinds and headwinds, which makes for a challenging outlook and difficult demand planning.
“Though the market has been experiencing a slower return to growth, there was some room for optimism in Q4 as government subsidies in China led to better than expected performance within the consumer segment,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "Beyond that, the US and some European countries also showed strong performance due to end-of-year sale promotions, as well as enterprises continuing on the path of upgrading hardware before the end of support for Windows 10 which is scheduled for October 2025.”
The approaching administration change in the US along with the threat of new and increased tariffs have elevated the level of concern across the industry, with some brands looking to get ahead of what is essentially uncertainty. Supply side research showed some pull-in during December, largely from those brands that have limited manufacturing capacity outside of China. Presumably as a preventative measure around US tariffs on goods made in China. However, so far this movement has been relatively minimal.
“The overall macroeconomic concerns seem to be overshadowing some of the progress and excitement around AI PCs. However, we maintain the view that the impact that on-device AI will have on the industry will be positive, even if the inflection point is delayed,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Device Trackers. “When the industry is trying to push new AI PCs that come with higher cost at a time when use cases are still being vetted and budgets are tight, that is clearly going to be a challenge. But on-device AI for PCs is inevitable, therefore, right now it is about suppliers trying to be patient as their customers are dealing with headwinds unrelated to these technology advancements.”
