PC Shipments Collapse As “Work From Home” Trend Plateaus And Recession Grips Consumers

PC shipments aren’t immune from the global semiconductor shortage, nor are they bulletproof from what appears to be an emerging global recession.

In a day and age where your phone can do pretty much everything, demand for PCs is now plunging by its quickest pace in a decade, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. In Q2, shipments were down 12.6% from the year prior, according to the report, which cited Gartner Inc. 

About 72 million PCs in April through June were sold, compared to 82.4 million from the year prior. A second firm, International Data Corp., said that year over year declines in global device shipments research 15.3% in Q2. 

Mikako Kitagawa, a research director at Gartner, told The Wall Street Journal: “The decline we saw in the first quarter of 2022 has accelerated in the second quarter, driven by the ongoing geopolitical instability caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, inflationary pressure on spending and a steep downturn in demand for Chromebooks.”

The sales drop comes after households “splurged” on electrics and equipment to prepare for home schooling and working from home during the pandemic, the report says. 

And it isn’t just PC manufacturers that are feeling the pain – other stops on the supply chain are also starting to feel the slowdown. For example, WSJ notes that Intel’s Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner recently said that 2H 2022 had gotten “a lot noisier” in terms of spending and investment guidance. 

Micron also said it was cutting back spending heading into the second half of the year. Jitesh Ubrani, an IDC research manager, added: “Fears over a recession continue to mount and weaken demand across segments.” 

Gartner concluded that the U.S. market for PCs decreased by 17.5%, mostly due to a 50% decline in Chromebook shipments.