China Lockdowns, Inflation Fuel 15% Drop In Global PC Shipments

Covid lockdowns in China and unchecked worldwide inflation in the second quarter of 2022 fueled a 15% drop in shipments of personal computers, research firm Canalys said today.

“The second quarter of 2022 brought major disruption to PC market, as Covid lockdowns in China stymied manufacturing,” Canalys said in a statement. “Demand headwinds, especially from consumers, have also ramped up as inflation remains unchecked in many of the world’s largest PC markets.”

Total shipments of desktops and notebooks fell 15% year-on-year to 70.2 million units, the lowest level since a similar disruption occurred in the first quarter of 2020, Canalys said.

Lenovo kept first place in the worldwide PC market, though its shipments fell 12% to 17.5 million units in the three-month period. HP’s shipments, hurt by a poor comparison to its strong education shipments last year, plunged by 28% to 13.5 million units. Dell was close behind HP in third place, posting a relatively modest decline of 5% to settle at 13.2 million units and increasing its market share by two percentage points compared with a year ago, Canalys said. Acer and Asus completed the top five, with declines of 19% and 5% respectively, it noted.

Covid’s effects continue to create economic uncertainty over the industry this quarter after wreaking havoc in the April-June period, Canalys noted.

“Covid lockdowns in key regions and cities of China throughout most of (the second quarter) severely affected the manufacturing and export of PCs,” said analyst Emma Xu. “Disruption to factory and port operations in Shanghai, Kunshan and Jiangsu led to significant delays in orders for all the major PC vendors. Though production and coordination started to improve by the end of May, output was below normal levels,” in the second quarter, she said.

“In addition, restrictions on the movement of people and goods and a reduction in business activity caused a sharp downturn in domestic purchasing in China, the world’s second-largest PC market. While indicators for consumer and commercial spending improved in June, the overall economic situation remains uncertain as the government’s zero-Covid policy remains in place,” Xu said.

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