The global laptop market has dipped significantly in the first quarter of 2022, reports research firm Gartner and International Data Corporation (IDC). The firms blame it on pandemic-related sales slowing down at the start of the year.
IDC reports a total of 80.5 million laptop shipments in Q1 2022, while Gartner’s numbers are a bit low at 77.5 million. This is a 7.7% decline over the same quarter last year.
The loss came mostly from a slump in the demand for Chromebooks. If it weren’t for Chromebooks, the laptop market would have grown by 3.3% compared to 2021. In simpler words, only Chromebooks are seeing a downturn, while other laptops are still doing well.
IDC’s report does not share any detailed reasons behind the Chromebook’s decline but does mention fewer purchases from educational institutions. The education sector uses over 40 million Chromebooks for teachers and students.
Lenovo is still the best-selling brand, followed by HP, Dell, and Apple. However, Dell, Apple, and ASUS were the only brands that grew over the year. Apple’s growth is to be credited to the new 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros released in October last year, powered by Apple’s in-house M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.
Demand for Chromebooks was exceptionally high in 2020 during the days of remote learning amid the pandemic. Over 30 million Chromebooks were sold at that time. A supply chain shortage caused a drop in Q3 2021 but the demand quickly recovered in the next quarter.
Overall, the laptop market is starting to level off after a huge surge in the last two years.
IDC VP Ryan Reith commented on the report saying:
The focus shouldn’t be on the year-over-year decline in PC volumes because that was to be expected. The focus should be on the PC industry managing to ship more than 80 million PCs at a time when logistics and supply chain are still a mess, accompanied by numerous geopolitical and pandemic-related challenges
