The global market for traditional PCs has returned to growth after two years of decline, the technology analyst firm IDC says, pointing out that 59.1 million shipments had been made in the first three months of 2024, or 1.5% growth year-on-year.
The figure for 2024 almost rivalled that for the first quarter of 2019 when 0.5 million units were shipped.
IDC counts desktops, notebooks and workstations as traditional PCs and does not include tablets or x86 servers.
In contrast, the first quarter of 2023 marked the lowest point in the PC market, with a 28.7% drop year-on-year.
{loadposition sam08}While markets in the Americans, Europe, the Middle East and Africa also showed positive signs, the China market, the biggest, exhibited weak demand.
"Despite China's struggles, the recovery is expected to continue in 2024 as newer AI PCs hit shelves later this year and as commercial buyers begin refreshing the PCs that were purchased during the pandemic," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
"Along with growth in shipments, AI PCs are also expected to carry higher price tags, providing further opportunity for PC and component makers."