Despite growth, PC market shows signs of slowing: IDC

Global demand for PCs has continued to grow through the second quarter of 2021, up 13.2 percent year over year, even in the face of component shortages and logistics issues.

According to research from IDC, worldwide shipments of PCs, which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations, reached 83.6 million units in 2Q21.

The analyst company said that elevated demand for PCs combined with shortages that greatly impacted the supply of notebooks led to desktop growth outpacing that of notebooks during the quarter.

"The PC market's hot streak continued to drive heavy investments from the supply side including the entry of new vendors as well as additional spend from underdogs," IDC Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers research manager Jitesh Ubrani said. 

"And while the top five continue to drive volume, the smaller vendors have helped drive growth by offering unique features or niche designs."

However, the research also points to a cooling down of the market, as the 13 percent growth rate is far lower than the 55.9 percent growth in the first quarter of the year, and even the 25.8 percent growth in the last quarter of 2020.

“The market faces mixed signals as far as demand is concerned," IDC Devices and Displays Group senior research analyst Neha Mahajan said. 

"With businesses opening back up, demand potential in the commercial segment appears promising. However, there are also early indicators of consumer demand slowing down as people shift spending priorities after nearly a year of aggressive PC buying."

While market share has remained relatively stable, Lenovo has taken the top spot once again from HP, which saw just 2.7 percent quarterly growth, the lowest of any of the vendors in the tracker.