IDC: AI is the Solution to PC Industry Sales Issues
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According to IDC, AI is seen as a potential solution to the PC industry's sales problems, although the analyst acknowledges that use cases are not yet fully defined. With the public release of ChatGPT, generative AI has garnered widespread attention, and major software and hardware brands are striving to apply this technology across various fields.
Image credit: AI-generated image, licensed by Midjourney.
Recently, HP's President Enrique Lores and Lenovo's Executive Director Luca Rossi confirmed that both companies plan to launch a series of AI PCs between July next year and early 2025, although they did not provide detailed technical specifications for these machines as they have not yet been released.
Linn Huang, Vice President of Devices & Displays Research at IDC, stated this week: "Generative AI could be a watershed moment for the PC industry." Although use cases are not yet fully defined, interest in this category is already high. AI PCs promise to personalize the user experience at a deeper level while protecting data privacy and sovereignty.
HP and Lenovo clearly see potential profitability in this area, and Huang agrees. He said: "As more of these devices are launched next year, we expect a significant increase in overall sales prices."
However, after nine consecutive quarters of decline, PC manufacturers are in desperate need of positive change. According to IDC data, PC shipments in Q3 2023 fell by 7.6% year-on-year to 68.2 million units. Among them, HP was the only top-five PC manufacturer to achieve growth, with shipments increasing by over 6% to 13.5 million units. In contrast, Apple performed the worst, with Mac shipments dropping by more than 23% to 7.2 million units, largely due to strong sales performance a year earlier, making comparisons difficult. Dell's PC shipments fell by 14.3% to 10.3 million units, indicating lower demand from enterprises.
IDC stated that the PC industry will "endure more pain" before recovery, but it has high hopes for the Windows 11 migration, the general refresh cycle of devices purchased during the early stages of the pandemic, and the aforementioned generative AI components.
According to Gartner's data, the PC market declined by 9% in the third quarter, dropping to 64.2 million units. Analyst Mikako Kitagawa stated, "There is evidence that the PC market's downward trend has finally bottomed out." She added, "Seasonal demand in the education market drove shipment growth in Q3, although weak enterprise PC demand offset some of this growth." She also noted that as long as holiday sales don't collapse, PC supply chain inventory will remain within the normal range of four to six weeks by year-end.