“Demand is pushing the PC market forward and all signs indicate this surge still has a way to go.” — IDC VP Ryan Reith
From “PC Sales Remain on Fire as Fourth Quarter Shipments Grow 26.1% Over the Previous Year, According to IDC” posted Monday:
To put things into perspective, the last time the PC market saw annual growth of this magnitude was 2010 when the market grew 13.7%. A lot has changed in those ten years, including six years of PC market decline, as well as a year of flat growth. The question now is how long this resurgence will last.
“Demand is pushing the PC market forward and all signs indicate this surge still has a way to go,” said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. “The obvious drivers for last year’s growth centered around work from home and remote learning needs, but the strength of the consumer market should not be overlooked. We continue to see gaming PCs and monitor sales at all-time highs and Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market. In retrospect, the pandemic not only fueled PC market demand but also created opportunities that resulted in a market expansion.”
December quarter (Apples fiscal Q1, 2021):
Calendar 2020:
My take: Not bad. Imagine if IDC measured profit share.
“And if we count iPad?”
“…this is meaningless without including iPads as PCs…”
That immediately came to mind. In fact, I never even finished the article, but cut straight to the comment section, saw your two posts there, and upvoted them. The biggest joke in the world is that iPads are not considered “computers” by these idiots. I don’t have the time to spare to find out, but I would be shocked if iPads aren’t back-ordered right now.
Regarding relative numbers, the last time I registered in my Apple spreadsheet the amount of iPads and Macs produced (December quarter 2018), iPads were selling at DOUBLE the pace of Macs. True, the ASP for Macs was almost 4x that for iPads, but that means iPads were bringing in <50% the income of Macs, which ain't hay.
But TaskForce, referenced by this earlier article is wrong. They counted, PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks but not iPads. https://www.ped30.com/2021/01/07/apple-windows-chromebooks-fasttrack/
Side note: WSJ reports that US car makers are being forced to stop assembly lines because of shortages of chips. Just one chip and the line stops. Cars require 40, up to 150 (high end cars) different chips.
If Apple gets in cars, Tim, the worlds best Ops manager will run circles around the rest of the pack.
Kids who grow with iPhones and iPads won’t buy PCs.
golden opportunity for Apple.
Jobs had a great vision, PCs are the trucks on the road doing the heavy lifting, iPads deliver household groceries like a car.
The PC is “alive & well.” I have been saying this for the past several months. We just keep getting evidence to that fact. When we realized months ago that we were moving into the era of a “new normal,” that was the sign that the PC era was alive & well. The new normal means more folk will continue to WFA & to demand to WFA if employers desire to keep competent & qualified personnel. This new work flexibility comes at a propitious time to allow workers in the new normal to juggle better the responsibility of work & family. This isn’t just for parents with latch-key school kids. It is for sandwiched parents dealing with aging parents & with children & for some, with grandchildren. It also is for spouses dealing with disabled spouses in the home.
Besides WFA we also have more applicants than ever for long distance learning. This plays into the need to have quality devices in the home to pursue educational & CE endeavors. So now, the question is: “… how long this resurgence will last?” That is a more difficult question to answer. I do agree with Fred S that it is possible it could go on for decades as kids growing up with iPhones & iPads will desire Macs over other personal computers. In the short term, though, we are going to see double digit growth for the next 2-3 years in Macs. Doesn’t that cut into increased world-wide market share for Apple? You betchu. 🙂
Fords! 🙂
They’ll laugh at those buying Macs as well. By the time they grow up their iPhones and iPads are their computers.
Perhaps iPhones & iPads will be the computers for all except those needing what today we call Mac Pro.
Schools equipping students with the skills to master computer science and develop competence in writing code is a game changer that’s also long overdue.
They have discovered (re-discovered?) Alan Kay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay…
http://www.vpri.org/pdf/hc_pers_comp_for_children.pdf