After years of steady decline, global PC sales finally saw big growth in 2020. Still, there were significant differences in demand for notebooks and desktop PCs.
According to data presented by Finaria.it, global desktop PC sales generated $58.4bn in revenue in 2020 or just 0.8% more than in 2019. However, this figure is expected to drop by 1.7% and hit $57.5bn in 2021.
Global Shipments Halved in ten Years
The rise of smartphones and the global shift from hardware to cloud solutions had been driving a downturn in global PC sales for years. This negative trend is the most obvious in the desktop PC segment.
In 2016, global desktop PC sales generated $59.2bn in revenue, revealed the Statista survey. By the end of 2019, this figure slipped to $57.9bn. While notebook sales surged in the second half of 2020, revenues in the desktop PC segment rose by only $500 million YoY and hit $58.4bn.
However, this figure is forecast to drop by almost one billion in 2021, and by 2025, the entire desktop PC market is expected to shrink to $54bn.
The IDC survey revealed that global desktop PC shipments also significantly dropped over the years. In 2010, 157 million desktop PC units were shipped worldwide. By 2015, the number of shipments plunged to 113.6 million and continued falling.
However, 2020 witnessed the biggest drop in desktop PC sales, with only 78 million units shipped worldwide, down from 94 million in 2019. This figure is expected to slip to 76 million in 2021 and continue falling to 73 million by 2024.
Chinese Desktop PC Revenues Rising to $13.6B, US Market to Drop by 3% YoY
Analyzed by geography, China represents the world’s largest desktop PC market, whose revenues have been increasing steadily in the last few years. In 2016, the Chinese market generated $12.5bn in revenue. By 2019, this figure rose to almost $13.2bn. The increasing trend continued last year, with revenues rising to $13.5bn amid the COVID-19 crisis. Statista data indicate the Chinese desktop PC market is set to reach $13.6bn value this year and continue rising to over $14bn by 2025.
As the second-largest market globally, the United States witnessed a negative trend in desktop PC sales, with revenues falling from $11.4bn in 2016 to $10.8bn in 2020. Statistics show this figure is set to drop by another 3% YoY to $10.5bn in 2021. By 2025, the US market is forecast to shrink to $9.2bn.
Japan ranked as the third-largest desktop PC market with almost $4bn value this year. India and Germany follow with $2.2bn and $2bn, respectively.