Customers are looking at laptops at a Best Buy in Los Angeles.
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Many people and businesses are still buying PCs, extending the boom that started last year during the Covid-19 pandemic as people needed computers to work or go to school from home.
According to a new estimate from Gartner, PC shipments to retailers and other suppliers increased 32% in the first quarter of 2021 from the same quarter in 2020. The research firm said it was the highest PC growth rate it had tracked since 2000 and estimated 69.9 million laptops and desktops shipped in the quarter.
The number of PC shipments fell sharply in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, before getting back on track later in the year, allowing for an easy comparison. But the boom is also real on an absolute basis: the total number of PC shipments was also the highest since 2015, when they came in at 71.7 million, according to Gartner.
Gartner’s stats don’t include Chromebooks, which are inexpensive laptops with a Google-designed browser operating system and popular with schools. Including Chromebooks, Gartner estimates that the PC market grew 47% in terms of shipping numbers in the past quarter.
Monday’s report suggests that PC sales are historically strong right now and that a boom in PC sales will not end as offices recall more employees and students return to school. The statistics also suggest that personal computers will continue to require many new chips and other components during a global semiconductor shortage.
“We think that, at least this year, especially in the first half of this year, demand for PCs will remain strong. The question is how strong it will be in the second half of this year to next year,” said Gartner researcher Mikako Kitagawa. CNBC.
The first quarter is usually a slow time for PC sales, especially when compared to the holiday quarter.
Kitagawa said this quarter’s results may have been even stronger if not because of a global chip shortage and other supply chain issues that are forcing some PC vendors to say they will ship computers months later than normal.
“The supply chain was completely disrupted a year ago, and the supply chain is currently disrupted due to a global shortage of semiconductors,” said Kitagawa.
According to the report, the top PC makers are Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple, Acer and Asus.
Other sales estimates also suggest a hot PC market during the period: Canalys estimates the PC market grew 55% in the quarter, and IDC also estimates 55% growth.