Lenovo leads global PC market in Q1 2021, HP 2nd

HP Inc was second with 22.9 per cent PC market share, followed by Dell Technologies at 15.4 per cent share.

PC shipments reached 84 million worldwide in the January-March period, a modest 8 per cent decline from the fourth quarter of 2020.

While sequential declines are typical for the first quarter, a decline this small has not been seen since the first quarter of 2012 when the PC market declined 7.5 per cent sequentially, according to IDC's ‘Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker' showed on Saturday.

"Unfulfilled demand from the past year has carried forward into the first quarter and additional demand brought on by the pandemic has also continued to drive volume," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers.

"However, the market continues to struggle with setbacks including component shortages and logistics issues, each of which has contributed to an increase in average selling prices," he added.

Apple with 8 per cent market share (by shipments) was fourth while Acer Group with 5 per cent came fifth.

The continued resurgence in the PC market as well as increases in average selling prices (ASPs) have primarily been driven by growth in gaming, the need for higher performance notebooks in the enterprise, and an increase in demand for touchscreens within the education segment.

Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers said that the ongoing shortages in the semiconductor space only further prolong the ability for vendors to refill inventory and fulfill orders to customers.

"We believe a fundamental shift has occurred around the PC, which will result in a more positive outlook for years to follow. All three segments — business, education, and consumer — are experiencing demand that we didn't expect to happen regardless of many countries beginning their ‘opening up' process," Reith noted.

Component shortages will likely be a topic of conversation for the majority of 2021.

"The more important question should be what PC demand will look like in 2-3 years," Reith said.