PC shipments suffer another year-over-year decline in the third quarter, as Apple sees a drop of 23%. Credit: Intel Free Press PC shipments continued to decline during the third quarter of 2023, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. In its latest report, the tech market research firm said that global shipments declined 7.6% year over year, with 68.2 million PCs shipped, and that downward pressure on pricing continues to be an issue within the consumer and business sectors. The tracker gathers detailed market data in over 90 countries and includes historical and forecast trend analysis. Most of the top five vendors that IDC tracks experienced double-digit declines during the quarter, with Apple faring the worst and seeing an outsized decline of 23.1% — a result of unfavorable year-over-year comparisons, as a company recovery from a COVID-related halt in production boosted shipments during the third quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, HP was the only vendor to experience growth in the third quarter this year, up 6.4% year-on-year, an outcome that IDC attributed largely to the normalizing of the company’s inventory. “The PC industry is on a slow path to recovery as a device refresh cycle and end of support for Windows 10 will help drive sales in the second half of 2024 and beyond. In the meantime, the PC industry will unfortunately experience more pain,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s mobility and consumer device trackers, in comments published alongside the report. However, IDC seemed to indicate there were some bright spots, noting that while demand and the global economy remain subdued, PC shipments increased sequentially in each of the last two quarters, slowing the rate of annual decline and indicating that the market has moved past the bottom of the trough. Generative AI could also be a watershed moment for the PC industry, IDC said, adding that while use cases have yet to be fully articulated, interest in the category is already strong, and that the next generation of PCs will be built with onboard generative AI engines. “AI PCs promise organizations the ability to personalize the user experience at a deeper level all while being able to preserve data privacy and sovereignty,” said Linn Huang, research vice president, Devices & Displays, at IDC. “As more of these devices launch next year, we expect a significant boost to overall selling prices.” Related content feature Windows 11 Insider Previews: What’s in the latest build? Get the latest info on new preview builds of Windows 11 as they roll out to Windows Insiders. Now updated for Build 22635.3566 for the Beta Channel, released on April 26, 2024. By Preston Gralla Apr 26, 2024 251 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows 11 news Dropbox adds end-to-end encryption for team folders Dropbox this week unveiled a range of features, including security updates and key management, and the ability to co-edit Microsoft 365 documents from within the file-sharing app. By Matthew Finnegan Apr 26, 2024 3 mins Cloud Storage Collaboration Software Productivity Software feature Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 15 Explore Android's ongoing evolution with this visual timeline of versions, starting B.C. (Before Cupcake) and going all the way to 2024's Android 15 (beta) release. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 23 mins Small and Medium Business Smartphones Android news analysis The unspoken obnoxiousness of Google's Gemini improvements Google's Gemini chatbot is seeing all sorts of upgrades on Android this week, but those advancements reveal a darker underlying reality. By JR Raphael Apr 26, 2024 12 mins Google Assistant Google Android Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe