The global PC industry outlook for 2024 doesn’t look optimistic, as the excess inventory and crushed consumer purchasing power keep pulling revenue and shipments deep below the levels seen in recent years.
According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, the PC industry is facing a third year of decline, with revenue expected to drop by 0.5% to $219.2bn in 2024.
Annual PC Sales Plunged by $11B in Just Three Years
Despite the previous optimistic expectations, 2024 won’t bring the long-awaited rebound to the global PC industry. After inflation, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the China lockdown brought the steepest drop in PC sales since the 1990s, the downward spiral is set to continue in 2024. The aftermath of the third consecutive year of global PC sales drop reveals shocking losses.
In 2021, when PC sales peaked, the entire market grossed $230bn in revenue, according to a Statista survey. A year later this figure dropped to $220bn. And while 2023 saw practically the same revenue, that won’t be the case next year. In 2024, global PC sales revenue is expected to drop by $1.3bn, pushing the total three-year loss to almost $11bn.
Most of the revenue drop will come from the tablets segment. Statista expects global tablet sales to generate $53.7bn in revenue in 2024, or $1.2bn less than this year. The market’s biggest revenue stream, laptop sales, will bring in $127.5bn in 2024, or $100 million less than this year. Statistics show Desktop PC sales will remain unchanged, with roughly $38bn in revenue.
Top Three PC Producers Added $32B to Their Stock Values Despite the Market Slowdown
Interestingly, the PC market slowdown hasn’t stopped the world’s largest PC producers, Lenovo, HP, and Dell, from adding billions of dollars to their stock values this year.
The YCharts data show the market cap of the world’s largest PC producer, Lenovo, which had a 23% share in this year’s total shipments, has jumped by 61% year-over-year to $15.8bn. Dell Technologies saw even bigger growth, with its stock value surging by 81% YoY to $52.2bn. Statistics show the market cap of HP Inc., the second-largest PC producer with a 20% market share, has grown by 13% year-to-date and hit almost $30bn. Collectively, the three companies have added a whopping $32bn to their stock values this year.
