Global PC shipments have seen the biggest drop since analyst firm Gartner began tracking the market in the mid-1990s.
PC shipments totaled 68 million units in the third quarter of 2022, down 19,5% from the third quarter of 2021, according to analyst statistics.
Sales have been down for a while; this is the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines globally.
Why the fall?
Mikako Kitagawa, chief analyst at Gartner, attributed the decline "to a lack of need, as many consumers have bought new PCs in the last two years."
He also said that "on the business side, geopolitical and economic uncertainties led to more selective IT spending, with PCs not high on the priority list."
The EMEA PC market fell 26,4% year-over-year in the third quarter, reaching 17 million units, the biggest drop of any region. This is the third negative quarter for the EMEA PC market after a boom at the start of the pandemic, according to Gartner.
"Several factors caused the EMEA PC market to deteriorate significantly, including difficult macroeconomic conditions, declining consumer and business demand, and high inventory levels," Kitagawa said.
"In addition, many PC vendors closed their operations in Russia in the first two quarters of this year which negatively affected overall shipments, which is particularly notable in year-over-year comparisons."
The US PC market fell 17,3% in the third quarter of 2022, the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment declines.
Slower laptop sales dragged down the broader US market, but the desktop market showed modest growth fueled by pent-up business demand as well as government purchases.
Kitagawa noted that inflation is the main concern for the US market, but said that "smaller companies are showing relative optimism regarding macro conditions."
The fall in PC sales does not seem to have affected manufacturers in the same way. Gartner found that Acer's sales suffered the worst drop of any manufacturer, falling 23,7% year over year.
It was followed by Lenovo and HP, whose sales fell 22,8% and 23,3% respectively.
Apple's sales were by far the best of any manufacturer, falling just 5,8%.