PORTLAND, OR – Worldwide PC shipments fell 8% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to Canalys, the highest quarterly drop since 2016.

PC vendors shipped 53.7 million desktops, notebooks and workstations during the quarter, compared with 58.3 million units in the year-ago period, according to the firm.

PC shipments fell despite a demand surge due to the shift toward the work-and-learn from home trend amid the coronavirus-led global lockdown.

“The PC industry has been boosted by the global Covid-19 lockdown, with products flying off the shelves throughout the first quarter,” said Rushabh Joshi, research director at Canalys.

However, lockdown measures to contain the spread of coronavirus have caused massive delays in productions, as well as created logistic issues, resulting in a fall in global PC shipments.

Additionally, the constrained supply of Intel INTC processors disrupted the industry supply chain. Joshi noted delays in the supply of Intel processors were “caused by a botched transition to 10nm nodes.”

All the top PC manufacturers witnessed year-over-year declines in PC shipments, except Dell Technologies, which reported a 1.1% improvement. Among the five major vendors, Apple registered the steepest decline, with its shipment sliding 21% year-over-year.

Lenovo holds the top vendor position, with a market share of 23.9%, followed by HP’s 21.8% and Dell’s 19.6%. While Apple holds the fourth spot with a market share of 6%, Acer was at the fifth position, with a market share of 5.8%. Lenovo, HP and Acer reported a PC shipment decline of 4.4%, 13.8%, and 12.6%, respectively.

Canalys does not expect the spike in PC demand during the first quarter to continue throughout 2020. The coronavirus outbreak has triggered a global recession, the firm says, which will compel governments and organizations to curtail their spending on technology. Canalys predicts a significant plunge in PC demand during the second quarter.

Nonetheless, the supply constraint in China has eased as factories have reopened in the country and are virtually running in full capacity. Therefore, PC vendors might face challenges in managing “supply chain and production correctly over the next three to six months.”

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