Apple took the biggest hit among PC makers in the first quarter as a worldwide slump in computer sales hammered tech giants, according to data from market research firm IDC released Monday.
Shipments of Apple’s Mac computers plunged by 40.5% to 4.1 million units in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier, according to IDC’s report. That marked the largest percentage decline year-over-year among top PC sellers.
PC sales have plunged across the board as more workers returned to the office, cooling the high demand for tech products that occurred during the pandemic-era shift toward remote work. As a result, Apple and other firms are struggling to sell through backlogs of inventory, according to IDC.
Dell Technologies posted the second-largest decline of 31%, followed by fellow market leaders Lenovo and ASUS, which each fell by 30.3%. HP’s sales fell by 24.2%.
Overall, global PC shipments sank 29% to 56.9 million for the quarter, below levels recorded in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic caused its seismic shift in the market. The decline followed a 28.1% drop in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The sales slowdown signals an end to the “era of COVID-driven demand” for remote work gear “and at least a temporary return to pre-COVID patterns,” IDC’s report said.
“Though channel inventory has depleted in the last few months, it’s still well above the healthy four-to-six-week range,” said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager for IDC. “Even with heavy discounting, channels and PC makers can expect elevated inventory to persist into the middle of the year and potentially into the third quarter.”
Apple shares were down by nearly 2.5% in early trading on Monday. Dell’s stock pared early losses and was trading 2% higher.
In February, Apple reported that sales of its Mac computers fell by 29% to $7.7 billion in the first quarter. The company does not break out sales by units sold in its quarterly results.
Shifts in remote work are just part of the challenge for tech firms. Consumer are dialing back on non-essential spending due to lingering inflation and tightened borrowing conditions tied to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.
Any improvement in PC sales trends is likely contingent on the health of the global economy, according to IDC.
“By 2024, an aging installed base will start coming up for refresh,” said Linn Huang, IDC’s research vice president for devices and displays. “If the economy is trending upwards by then, we expect significant market upside as consumers look to refresh, schools seek to replace worn down Chromebooks, and businesses move to Windows 11.
“If recession in key markets drags on into next year, recovery could be a slog,” Huang added.
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