Q2 2021 sees 13% growth in global PC shipments

Worldwide shipments of PCs continues to see growth throughout 2021, rising 13% year on year to reach 82.3 million units in the second quarter of this year.

That's according to a new analysis from Canalys, which found that demand remains high in the midpoint of the year for desktops, laptops, notebooks and workstations. The data analyst firm points to a robust commercial segment as a key contributor to this demand.

However, the growth in the segment is partially offset by the waning of pandemic-driven urgency for consumers to get their hands on PCs. Meanwhile, component supply issues remain a problem for the industry — but the extent of order shortfalls and backlogs is reducing.

Notebook and mobile workstation shipments, in particular, had a good quarter, growing 15% year on year in Q2 2021 and reaching 66.7 million units. Desktop and workstation shipments rose, but by a considerably smaller margin at 6%, reaching 15.6 million units.

"The PC market could not be in a better position," says Canalys research director Rushabh Doshi.

"The slowdown in consumer demand, stemming from fulfilment of backlogs and greater market penetration, has been nicely balanced by growing commercial demand, as markets around the world limp back to normality."

The top five PC vendors all managed to sustain shipment growth in Q2 2021, with commercial demand from recovering businesses acting as the key driver:

• Lenovo extended its lead at the top, with impressive annual growth of 14.7% and shipments above the 20-million-unit mark for a third consecutive quarter.
   
• HP held onto second place but with the smallest shipment volume growth of the top five, up just 2.8% as it suffered slowdowns in EMEA and Japan.
   
• Dell posted healthy growth of 16.5% to close in on the top two, with its strength in the commercial sector coming to the fore as business recovery drove new orders.
   
• Apple and Acer rounded out the top five with double-digit growth, posting shipments of 6.4 million and 6.0 million units, respectively.

"PC vendors now have two key business opportunities — first-time PC users and upgraders," continues Doshi.

"With the installed base having blown up massively in the past year, upgrade opportunities will provide a strong long-term sales pipeline.

"Let us not forget, some of the most exciting platform innovation is happening now. Apple with ARM and macOS updates, Microsoft with Windows 11 and Google with Chrome OS are poised to make PCs their next battlefield, which can only benefit vendors and their supply chain partners.