Referenews

Market demand for PCs from corporate buyers began to fall in the third quarter and has since deteriorated, said

Mikako Kitagawa,

director analyst at Gartner. “Enterprise buyers are extending PC lifecycles and delaying purchases, meaning the business market will likely not return to growth until 2024,” Mr. Kitagawa said.

While consecutive quarters of declines point to a dreary outlook for the PC market, IDC says it expects “pockets of opportunity” to be evident throughout the year and that the market has the potential to recover in 2024.

PC makers shipped between 65.3 million and 67.2 million PCs in the fourth quarter of 2022. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 286.2 million units in 2022, a 16% decline from the prior year, according to Gartner.

Lenovo Group Ltd.

led its competitors in global PC shipments, claiming nearly a quarter of the market share in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Gartner and IDC.

HP Inc.

and

Dell Technologies Inc.

came in second and third, respectively, and

Apple Inc.

followed at the No. 4 spot.

In the U.S., HP is the top vendor by shipments, followed by Dell, Apple and Lenovo, according to Gartner. The companies didn’t return requests for comment.

The Covid-19 pandemic spurred households and businesses to purchase PCs to adjust to remote work and schooling. Now demand has cooled as prepandemic conditions have largely returned and persistent inflation has pushed businesses and individuals to be more frugal. Average selling prices have fallen over the past few months as discounts were offered to reduce overstocked inventories, IDC said. Plunging sales have caused many sellers to cut prices for devices.

PC makers such as HP and Dell signaled last year that a slump in demand for PCs is expected to stretch into 2023. HP said in November that it would slash 10% of its workforce as part of a plan aimed at cutting costs.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com