Global PC Shipments Rebound In Q2 Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

(RTTNews) - Global PC shipments returned to growth in the second quarter of 2020 after seeing a significant decline in the preceding first quarter due to COVID-19 related supply-chain disruptions, according to reports by two research firms.

The PC market returned to growth in the quarter as production ramped up and vendors restocked their supplies to near-normal levels.

The International Data Corporation or IDC said global PC shipments in the second quarter rose 11.2 percent year over year to 72.3 million units.

According to the IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, the traditional PC market is comprised of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, but do not include Tablets or x86 Servers.

"The strong demand driven by work-from-home as well as e-learning needs has surpassed previous expectations and has once again put the PC at the center of consumers' tech portfolio," said Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers.

However, Ubrani added that it remained to be seen if the demand and high level of usage continued during a recession and into the post-COVID world as budgets shrink and schools as well as workplaces reopen.

According to IDC, HP Inc. was the top-ranked vendor, with worldwide PC shipments of 18.08 million units, up 17.7 percent from the year-ago quarter. Lenovo Group was ranked second with 7.4 percent growth in shipments to 17.41 million units.

Dell Technologies stood in third position, with its PC shipments rising 3.5 percent to 12.01 million units. Apple's shipments surged 36 percent to 5.59 million units, while Acer Group's shipments climbed 12.7 percent to 4.83 million units.

Meanwhile, a report by Gartner Inc. showed that worldwide PC shipments in the second quarter rose 2.8 percent from the year-ago period to 64.8 million units.

Gartner's report includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums such as Microsoft Surface, but excludes Chromebooks and iPads.

According to Gartner's data, Lenovo maintained its position as the top-ranked vendor with a 4.2 percent year-over-year increase in second-quarter shipments to 16.20 million units. HP was a close second, with 17.1 percent growth in shipments to 16.17 million units.

Dell's shipments declined 0.3 percent to 10.65 million units; Apple shipments rose 5.1 percent to 4.37 million units; and Acer shipments grew 23.6 percent to 4.01 million units.