The global PC market continues to face headwinds and setbacks, causing revenue and shipments to remain below the levels seen in the past years. With inflation crumbling consumer purchasing power and the excess inventory, the downward spiral is set to continue next year.
According to data presented by AltIndex.com, the global PC market is facing a third year of decline, with revenue expected to drop by $1.3bn in 2024.
Most of the Revenue Drop will Come from the Tablets Segment
The perfect storm of supply chain issues, the China lockdown, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and global inflation slashed global demand for PCs last year, bringing the steepest drop since the 1990s.
The IDC data indicates that nine-month PC shipments have plunged by more than 38 million units, with 186.7 million PCs shipped globally between January and September. This massive 17% drop caused the PC sector to face another year of stagnation.
According to Statista Market Insights, the global PC market is expected to gross $220.5bn in revenue in 2023, almost the same as last year, and $7.5bn less than in 2021, when the PC sales peaked. Laptops, the market`s largest and highest-grossing segment, are expected to see a $100 million year-over-year revenue drop, falling from $127.6bn to $127.5bn. Desktop PCs will generate almost the same revenue as this year, roughly $38bn, and tablets will see the biggest decline.
Statista expects global tablet sales to bring in $53.7bn in revenue in 2024, or $1.2bn less than this year, meaning most of the revenue drop in the global PC market will come from this segment.
Sales Drop, but Stock Values of the Largest PC Producers Rise
And while the global PC market faces a third year of decline, the largest PC producers have added billions of dollars to their stock values. According to YCharts data, the market cap of the world`s largest PC producer, Lenovo, which had a 23% share in this year`s total shipments, has jumped by almost 50% year-over-year, reaching $14.7bn last week.
Dell Technologies saw even more significant growth, with its stock value rising by an impressive 68% YoY to $54bn. Statistics show the market cap of the tech giant Apple, the fourth largest PC producer globally, has grown by 26% in this period and hit $2.97trn last week.
On the other hand, HP Inc., the second-largest PC producer with a 20% market share, was the only one whose market cap dropped in the past year. Statistics show the company lost nearly $1bn in stock value since November last year, with its market cap now at $28.3bn.
Moreover, according to the AltIndex platform, whose algorithm analyzes millions of alternative data signals from thousands of publicly traded companies to forecast future price movements and overall company performance, HP stocks have a lower AI score of 43 out of 100 and are designated with a sell signal.
This score results from several factors, including a long-term decrease in HP`s Twitter followers, job posts, month-over-month drop in web traffic, and insider selling.