2024 PC shipments increase with strong refresh cycle, Win10 ends by info.odysseyx@gmail.com January 15, 2025 written by info.odysseyx@gmail.com January 15, 2025 0 comment 8 views 8 Shipments of personal computers increased in 2024, driven by business replacing older hardware and the anticipated end of support for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system. According to market research firm canalisPC shipments rose 3.8% to 255.5 million units in 2024 from 246.3 million in 2023. IDCAnother research firm, 2024 shipments were higher – 262.7 million – but it had more shipments in 2023 – 260.2 million, for a year-over-year increase of 1%. “2024 was a modest recovery year and a return to traditional seasonality for the PC market as full-year shipments grew by 3.8%,” Canalys analyst Kieren Jessop said in a statement. “Growth picked up slightly in Q4, with shipments up 4.6% year-over-year, indicating a positive trend as we come within a year of the Windows 10 support end date,” he continued. “Holiday season demand was supported by strong discounting by vendors and retailers, luring customers who have become increasingly price-sensitive,” he said. Jessop noted that the use of buy-now, pay-later services supports that trend, with increasing examples of those offers being leveraged to drive spending on big-ticket items like PCs. Meanwhile, he added that in China, government incentives in the form of consumer subsidies have helped boost notebook spending amid a weak demand environment. Strong seasonal sales “Although the market experienced a slow return to growth, there was some room for optimism in the fourth quarter as government subsidies in China led to better-than-expected performance in the consumer segment,” said Jitesh Ubrani, IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers research manager. statement “In addition,” he continued, “the United States and some European countries also showed strong performance due to year-end sales promotions, as well as enterprises continuing to upgrade hardware before the end of support for Windows 10, which is scheduled for October 2025.” “Year-end sales were a little more aggressive than we’ve seen in recent years,” added IDC program vice president for global mobile device tracker Ryan Reith. Much of the promotional activity in the PC space throughout 2024 was aimed at moving inventory, he noted. “PC makers wanted to keep things running, even if it meant smaller margins because people getting new hardware meant other opportunities, like selling them new software,” he told TechNewsWorld. Commercial shipments, representing about 50% of the global PC market, were also an important part of the growth story. “Companies refresh their PCs at a pretty meager cadence,” says Reith. “Typically, in most developed markets it is between three and four years. In developing markets it may take a little longer. But they don’t because the hardware isn’t good enough. This is usually due to software.” “Business can only go so long before it refreshes. You’re not going to keep a PC for 10 years in a business,” added Jack E. Gould, founder and principal analyst. Jay Gould AssociatesAn IT consulting company in Northborough, Mass. “Covid brought in a ton of new machines three, three and a half years ago,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Most companies refresh on a three-year basis. So we’re seeing a boom in the PC buying business.” End of day for Win10 Jessop added that a significant factor contributing to PC shipment growth in 2024, which will continue into 2025, is the size and age of the installed hardware base. “It was never bigger or older than it is now,” he told TechNewsWorld. That’s why Canalys predicts that commercial PC shipments will continue to outpace consumer shipments. “Consumer price sensitivity and budget priorities mean many people are delaying their next purchase,” Jessop explained. Another factor holding back PC shipments is Microsoft’s announcement that it will stop supporting Windows 10 in October 2025. “With hundreds of millions of older PCs unable to update to Windows 11, businesses will be pushed to refresh their devices,” Jessop said. “Microsoft is becoming increasingly aggressive in letting customers know that support is coming to an end, and that they really need to upgrade to Windows 11,” added principal analyst Ross Rubin. Reticle ResearchA consumer technology consulting firm in New York City. “Given the relatively stringent requirements for this, the only way to do this is to buy a new computer,” he told TechNewsWorld. AI PC puzzle customers Jessop cites the introduction of AI PCs in the market as a growth driver. “They are being positioned as a halo category and used to open the door to conversations around a broader fleet refresh,” he said. Paul Schell, an industry analyst at a global technology intelligence firm ABI ResearchAI sees PCs as a significant influence on growth. He told TechNewsWorld, “We see the introduction of AI PCs, and especially notebooks/laptops, acting as a driving force behind the shortening of refresh cycles. “In the AI PC segment, challenger Qualcomm has expanded its portfolio to include premium chipsets — including a SKU that targets the $600 laptop range — which has a democratizing effect, since it was the first release from all vendors, including Apple, Intel and AMD. More premium,” he said. Jessop, however, noted that despite the hype surrounding PCs at CES last week, the computers failed to generate much excitement among buyers. “Many of the channel partners we surveyed indicated that their customers were either unaware of Copilot+ PCs or unwilling to pay a premium price for them, even if they were aware,” he noted. “This dual challenge limits the department’s ability to create a strong aspirational pull or halo effect,” he continued. “Customers are prioritizing pricing over perceived innovation, suggesting Copilot+ PCs need stronger articulation or refinement of the value proposition.” AI PCs will be a big deal in 2025, claims Mark N. Vena, president and chief analyst SmartTech Research In Las Vegas. “With special chips called NPUs (neural processing units), these are great for tasks like AI, language processing and predicting things,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Businesses and people will want PCs that can use AI to make their work easier, more creative and more automated.” “I’m not sure – yet – that AI will be a dominant factor, but as AI usage models become more compelling, AI PCs will become more attractive to the average mainstream user,” he said. Eric Compton, director of technology equity research Morningstar Research Services In Chicago, it maintains that 2025 will be similar to 2024 in terms of PC shipment growth. “Primary factors will be the used PC refresh cycle and the need to replace machines purchased in the boom years of 2020 and 2021,” he told TechNewsWorld. “If AI PCs can improve their functionality and create more unique needs, it could be a wildcard for additional needs.” Share 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail info.odysseyx@gmail.com previous post How should I write a summary for an investment proposal? next post How to Write a Summary of an Investment Proposal You may also like Ride-sharing and Robotaxis Decopled Revenue Model Problems February 17, 2025 Web Raiders run the Global Brut Force attack from 2.5M IPS February 12, 2025 Generator Tech, Robot, risk of emerging February 11, 2025 Robotaxis is bringing in the lift dallas’ with ‘2026 with’ February 11, 2025 Why did Qualcom lose his first leadership February 10, 2025 Lenovo’s ThinkPad X 1 Carbon has rewrite my MacBook Pro February 5, 2025 Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.