Skip to main content

After an early pandemic shortage computers are shipping again, Canalys reports

After an early pandemic shortage computers are shipping again, Canalys reports

/

Shipments of laptops, desktops, and workstations were up 13 percent in the third quarter

Share this story

Best Laptop 2022: Lenovo Chromebook Duet
Photo by Monica Chin / The Verge

Computer manufacturers shipped 79 million personal computers in the third quarter of 2020, an uptick of 13 percent year-over-year with Lenovo leading the pack, technology analyst firm Canalys reported.

Looking at worldwide desktop, laptop, and workstation shipments, Canalys found Acer shipped 5.6 million units last quarter for a 15 percent increase from the year-ago quarter. That was the largest percentage increase from 2019. But Lenovo shipped the most units in the third quarter, at 19.3 million, an 11 percent increase from last year, followed by HP with 18.6 million, a 12 percent year-over-year uptick. Dell shipped 11.9 million units in Q3 which was actually a decrease of 0.5 percent from the year prior, while Apple shipped 6.3 million units for an increase of 13.2 percent.

Earlier this year, laptops were especially hard to find, with a huge, sudden increase in demand from people working and learning from home during the coronavirus pandemic. But the supply chain wasn’t able to keep up, and PC shipments declined 12.3 percent during the first quarter of 2020. But Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt said in a statement that vendors have started to recover in the months since.

“Vendors, the supply chain, and the channel have now had time to find their feet and allocate resources towards supplying notebooks, which continue to see massive demand from both businesses and consumers,” Dutt said.

Spending on IT, including investment in PCs, will “be a core driver of economic recoveries in the aftermath of the pandemic,” he added.