Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 7.3% in First Quarter of 2022

 Worldwide PC shipments totaled 77.5 million units in the first quarter of 2022, a 7.3% decrease from the first quarter of 2021, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. A sharp drop in Chromebook sales significantly contributed to the overall market decline.

“After an unprecedented Chromebook surge in 2020 and early 2021, driven by demand from the U.S. educational market, Chromebook growth has tempered,” said Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner. “It was a challenging quarter for the PC and Chromebook market to achieve growth, as this time last year the PC market registered its highest growth in decades.”

Excluding Chromebooks, the worldwide PC market grew by a modest 3.3% year over year. In addition to weakened Chromebook sales, slowed consumer demand contributed to the market’s downward trend, as discretionary spending shifted away from devices. Business PCs, however, saw growth in the first quarter of 2022 as hybrid work and the return to offices created demand for desktop devices.

The top three vendors in the worldwide PC market remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2022, with Lenovo maintaining the No. 1 spot in shipments at 23.6% market share (see Table 1).

Table 1. Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q22 (Thousands of Units)