Apple Inc.’s personal computer shipments declined by 40.5% in the first quarter

According to IDC’s latest report, the combined shipments of all PC makers suffered a significant 29% drop to 56.9 million units in the first quarter of 2023. This decline brings shipments below the levels of early 2019, as the surge in demand due to remote work during the pandemic has dissipated. The market leaders, including Lenovo Group Ltd., Dell Technologies Inc., and HP Inc., experienced declines of over 24%, with Lenovo and Dell both seeing drops of over 30%. Even Asustek Computer Inc., which rounded out the top 5, experienced a significant decline of 30.3%. The slowdown in PC shipments appears to be a widespread issue affecting all major brands in the industry.

The slowdown in consumer spending over the past year has led to double-digit declines in smartphone shipments and an accumulating glut among the world’s foremost memory chip suppliers. Samsung Electronics Co., which provides memory for portable devices as well as desktop and laptop PCs, last week said it’s cutting memory production after reporting its slimmest profit since the 2009 financial crisis.

“Though channel inventory has depleted in the last few months, it’s still well above the healthy four to six week range,” said Jitesh Ubrani, IDC research manager. “Even with heavy discounting, channels and PC makers can expect elevated inventory to persist into the middle of the year and potentially into the third quarter.”

A silver lining is that the cooling demand is giving manufacturers the time and room “to make changes as many factories begin to explore production options outside China,” IDC said in the report. Apple is gradually diversifying the geography of its manufacturing base as brewing tensions between Washington and Beijing threaten to disrupt its carefully orchestrated supply chain.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)