Global PC market enters 'winter'

The PC market began to enter a period of negative growth, ending 8 consecutive quarters of increase when large companies reported losses in turn.

Statistics in the second quarter of 2022 by research firm Canalys show that after two years of positive growth, the global PC market has suddenly plummeted. Total shipments of desktops and laptops dropped 15% year-on-year to 70.2 million units, the lowest level since a similar disruption occurred in the first quarter of 2020. Laptop shipments alone fell for three consecutive quarters. Compared to the same period last year, the last quarter recorded a negative growth of 18.6% with 54.5 million devices shipped.

Global PC shipments shipped from Q2/2018 to Q2/2022: Source: Canalys

According to Canalys analysts, two reasons for the decline of the PC market are China's "zero Covid" policy affecting production and users' shopping needs have been "filled up". " during the two years of the pandemic.

"As expected, the blockade in the key city in China during the second quarter severely affected the production and export of personal computers. Disruption in factory and port operations in China Shanghai, Kunshan and Jiangsu have resulted in significant delays in orders from all major PC vendors," said Canalys analyst Emma Xu. In addition, restrictions on travel and freight in China - the world's second largest PC market also seriously affected the market.

Canalys statistics show that most of the major PC manufacturers globally have experienced a reduction in the number of devices shipped. Compared to the previous quarter, this quarter Lenovo decreased 12%, to 17.5 million units. HP plummeted by 28% to 13.5 million. Dell came in third with a modest 5% drop to 13.2 million devices. Acer and Asus are still in the top 5 market share with a decrease of 19% and 5% respectively.

Even Apple has not escaped the "winter" of the PC industry. According to the newly released financial report, Mac's revenue last quarter was $ 7.382 billion, down 10.35% compared to the same period last year.

According to Sina , from April, multiple sources confirmed that nearly all leading PC manufacturers have started cutting orders. Dell said that demand for the company's monitors and computer panels will drop by 50%, meaning it could also lose half of its revenue in the near future.

In the financial report for the second quarter of 2022 released by Intel on July 29, all of its financial indicators were lower than expected. Intel's total revenue for the quarter was $15.321 billion, down 22% from $19,631 billion in the same period last year and a far cry from its original estimate of $18 billion. It lost $454 million, Intel's first loss in 30 years.

Intel attributes these disappointing numbers to the economic downturn and falling demand for personal computers. Compared to the same period last year, its client computing business (CCG) is down 25%.

Sanford C Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon called it the worst earnings report he's seen in his career.

According to experts, after the global demand for PC products peaked in 2020-2021, the market began to decline as the demand for PCs was gradually saturated. PC equipment upgrade cycle usually lasts 3-5 years, so this is considered the "hibernation" period of computer manufacturers.

The Vietnamese PC market is also not out of the global trend. The computer business units all confirmed a sharp drop in revenue. Mr. Thai Le Tu, representative of GearVN, commented: "The demand for PC shopping among Vietnamese people is high in 2021, so at the beginning of this year, sales will decline. Then the market falls into the low season again. It is the second quarter. Currently, it is not possible to predict whether purchasing power will return or not, this depends on sales in the upcoming back-to-school season," said Mr. Tu.

And Mr. Huy Nguyen, representative of CellphoneS system, said that the whole PC market is at the bottom with a decrease of 70% compared to last year. "The reason is that the demand for work and entertainment at home is no longer, while the cryptocurrency mining market has also plummeted, miners are 'discharging buffalo' massively," Huy said.

However, Mr. Tu said that the downfall of the cryptocurrency market helped stabilize the supply of goods and stabilize prices. However, the adjustment has not stimulated purchasing power in the high-end segment. This is also one of the reasons for the decline in PC revenue.

The high-end segment is the group of Hi-end gaming PCs and machines for specialized people, the segment of 30 million or more. According to Mr. Tu, users in this group are continuing to wait until the end of the year when Intel, AMD, and Nvidia are expected to release new products.