PC shipments rose in Q2, but the pandemic boom is slowing
Component shortages continue to cause headaches for PC manufacturers.
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Global PC shipments are still up.
Global PC shipments grew 4.6% to 71.6 million in the second quarter of 2021, according to new data from Gartner. That increase is a substantial drop from the 35.7% growth seen in the first quarter, due partly to the global components shortage.
When the coronavirus pandemic had many students and employees self-isolating at home and tightening their budgets, companies started to close factories to adjust to the decrease in demand. However, the dynamic quickly changed as people began buying devices to keep themselves connected while stuck at home -- visible in the growth of PC shipments at the end of 2020 and the start of 2021.
Effects of the shortage include higher costs for consumers and up to 120 days of lead time for enterprise devices, Gartner Research Director Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement. Gartner also pointed out that the enterprise market was more heavily affected by the shortage than the consumer market, particularly for what Gartner terms "mobile PCs."
Lenovo widened its lead among global shippers despite dropping in market share from 24.4% to 24.1%. Its closest rival, HP, dropped from a market share of 23.5% to 20%. Dell, Apple and Acer were the biggest winners in terms of overall shipments, posting growth of 14% or better compared with the second quarter of 2020. HP was the only company among the top six to decline in growth.
