PC Market Growth Slows Amid Global Chip Shortages

The PC market is showing early signs of its growth slowing down, after an impressive run of shipments throughout 2020. From a report: Both IDC and Gartner conclude that growth in the second quarter of PC shipments has slowed this year. Demand for new PCs is still above what we saw before the pandemic hit, but a mixture of softer demand and the effects of the global chip shortage mean it's not growing as quickly. "The market faces mixed signals as far as demand is concerned," says Neha Mahajan, a senior research analyst at IDC. "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." IDC says more than 83 million PCs were shipped in the second quarter of 2021, while Gartner's own figure is more than 71 million. Gartner does not include Chromebook shipments in its results, but the research firm says "Chromebook shipments were once again strong in the second quarter of 2021." Either way, both firms agree that year-over-year growth in this latest quarter wasn't as strong as 2020's sudden growth.

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