Apple's 40% plunge in PC sales is the sharpest drop of all major computer makers

There has been a decline of 40.5% in the shipment of Apple Inc.'s personal computers during the first quarter. The decline underscores how difficult the first quarter has been for PC makers still battling a glut of unsold inventory at the beginning of the year.

‍

In IDC's latest report based on their latest survey, sales of PCs by all PC makers combined have slumped 29% to 56.9 million units - and are now below the levels seen in early 2019 - as the demand surge brought by the pandemic-era remote work has vanished. As far as the market leaders go, Lenovo Group Ltd. has fallen more than 30%, Dell Technologies Inc. has fallen 24.2%, and HP Inc. has fallen more than 30%. It was not only Asustek Computer Inc., which rounded out the top five with a 30.3% fall, that was spared from the slowdown, which hit just about all major brands.

‍

There has been a slowdown in consumer spending over the past year that has led to double-digit declines in smartphone shipments and an accumulating glut among the world's foremost manufacturers of memory chips over the last year. After reporting its tiniest profit since the 2009 financial crisis, Samsung Electronics Co., a company that manufactures memory products for portable devices and desktop and laptop computers, announced last week that it was cutting back on memory production.

‍

Despite a decline in channel inventory in the past few months, Jitesh Ubrani, IDC research manager for that region, said that it is still well above the healthy four- to six-week range in channel inventory levels. "Even with heavy discounting, PC makers and channels should be prepared for inventory levels to remain elevated into the middle of the year, and perhaps into the third quarter."

‍

"The good news is that the cooling demand is giving manufacturers the time and freedom to make changes since many factories are now starting to explore the possibility of producing outside of China," according to IDC's report. A growing number of tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten to disrupt Apple's carefully orchestrated supply chain as the company gradually diversifies the geography of its manufacturing base.

‍

With an eye toward 2024, the IDC researchers predict that there will be a potential rebound for PC makers, driven primarily by the need to replace aging hardware and a global economy that has been improving over the past few years.