The PC industry is currently going through a pretty serious shortage in semiconductors and other really essential components. This shortage has been cause by the rather massive supply chain interruptions that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is only now starting to be fully realized. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that PC sales are actually on the rise in most parts of the word.
The second quarter of 2021 saw 71.6 million units being shipped which is a year on year increase of about 4.6%. While pre pandemic demand has still been surpassed this year, it does seem to indicate that the growth in sales is slowing down somewhat. A year ago, the year on year increase in shipments was as high as 35.7% and this is a number that is quite massive when you compare it to the now paltry looking 4.6% that we have seen over the course of the past 12 months or so.
This deceleration in sales growth is partly caused by the component shortage according to Mikako Kitagawa who currently holds a high level position at Gartner. According to Kitagawa, the fact that the lead time for PCs has increased to 120 days due to component shortages has resulted in a price increase. This will subsequently decrease demand over the next six to twelve months. Hence, in a year from now we might start to see that the growth that the PC industry has seen so far is going to disappear, although once prices and supply both start to stabilize a bit we would begin to see consumer demand rising once again.
This just goes to show how interconnected the world is and how things effecting one region will inevitably end up impacting another one as well.
H/T: Gartner.
Read next: Millions of users were affected due to the cyber security disasters of these giant tech companies
The second quarter of 2021 saw 71.6 million units being shipped which is a year on year increase of about 4.6%. While pre pandemic demand has still been surpassed this year, it does seem to indicate that the growth in sales is slowing down somewhat. A year ago, the year on year increase in shipments was as high as 35.7% and this is a number that is quite massive when you compare it to the now paltry looking 4.6% that we have seen over the course of the past 12 months or so.
This deceleration in sales growth is partly caused by the component shortage according to Mikako Kitagawa who currently holds a high level position at Gartner. According to Kitagawa, the fact that the lead time for PCs has increased to 120 days due to component shortages has resulted in a price increase. This will subsequently decrease demand over the next six to twelve months. Hence, in a year from now we might start to see that the growth that the PC industry has seen so far is going to disappear, although once prices and supply both start to stabilize a bit we would begin to see consumer demand rising once again.
This just goes to show how interconnected the world is and how things effecting one region will inevitably end up impacting another one as well.
H/T: Gartner.
Read next: Millions of users were affected due to the cyber security disasters of these giant tech companies
