PC shipments continue to decline, but generative AI could reverse the trend: IDC

The global PC market has been struggling for years, as consumers and businesses shift to mobile devices and cloud computing. However, a new report from IDC suggests that generative AI could offer a way to revitalize the PC industry and create new demand for high-performance hardware.

Generative AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as images, text, music or code, based on existing data and user input. For example, generative AI can produce realistic faces of people who don't exist, write attractive headlines for articles, compose original melodies, or generate code snippets from natural language descriptions.

According to IDC, generative AI has the potential to transform various industries and applications, such as entertainment, education, healthcare, gaming, design, and software development. Generative AI could also enable new forms of creativity and collaboration, as users can easily generate and modify content based on their preferences and needs.

However, generative AI also requires a lot of computing power and data, which could create new opportunities for the PC market. IDC predicts that generative AI will drive demand for high-end PCs, especially desktops and workstations, that can handle the intensive tasks of training and running generative models. IDC It also expects generative AI to spur innovation and adoption of new PC components and peripherals, such as GPUs, SSDs, monitors, keyboards, mice, and styluses.

IDC estimates that the global PC market will decline by 2,5% in 2023, but generative AI could reverse this trend and boost PC shipments by 3,8% in 2024. IDC also forecasts that hardware revenue will grow and PC software related to generative AI. from $3.500 billion in 2020 to $9.800 billion in 2024.

IDC's report highlights the potential for generative AI to create new value and demand for the PC industry. However, generative AI also poses some challenges and risks, such as the ethical, legal and social implications of generating and using synthetic content. Therefore, IDC recommends that PC vendors and developers pay attention to generative AI best practices and standards, as well as the needs and expectations of their customers and users.

PC shipments continued to decline during the third quarter of 2023, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

In its latest report, the technology market research firm said that global shipments were down 7,6% year over year, with 68,2 million PCs shipped, and that downward pressure on prices remains an issue. within the consumer and business sectors. The tracker collects detailed market data in more than 90 countries and includes historical and forecast trend analysis.

Most of the top five vendors IDC tracks saw double-digit declines during the quarter, with Apple being the worst performer, seeing a whopping 23,1% drop, the result of unfavorable year-over-year comparisons, as that the company recovers from a COVID crisis. The crisis-related production stoppage boosted shipments during the third quarter of 2022.

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Meanwhile, HP was the only vendor to see growth in the third quarter of this year, up 6,4% year over year, a result that IDC largely attributed to the company's inventory normalization.

“The PC industry is on a slow path to recovery, as a device refresh cycle and the end of support for Windows 10 will help drive sales in the second half of 2024 and beyond. “In the meantime, the PC industry will unfortunately experience more problems.” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for consumer and mobility device trackers at IDC, in comments published alongside the report.

In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at some of the factors behind the PC market decline and what it means for businesses and consumers. We'll also discuss some of the opportunities and challenges ahead for PC vendors and buyers in the coming years.

The PC market has been struggling for a long time, but there are some signs of hope, according to IDC. The research firm said that PC shipments have grown quarter over quarter for two consecutive quarters, indicating that the worst is behind us and the market is stabilizing.

One of the factors that could revitalize the PC industry is generative AI, IDC said. This is a new type of AI that can create original content, such as images, text, music or code, based on user input and preferences. IDC said PCs with generative AI will offer a new level of personalization and privacy for users, as well as new possibilities for creativity and productivity.

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“PCs with generative AI will allow users to personalize their experience in ways not previously possible, while keeping their data secure and local,” said Linn Huang, research vice president of Devices and Displays at IDC. "We expect these devices to have a positive impact on the average selling price of PCs next year."