PC sales have languished for years, thanks to the rise of smartphones. But the demand for laptops skyrocketed in 2020 as adults were stuck at home and kids turned to remote learning. That increase in demand has led to the highest growth in the PC market in a decade.
According to data collected by Canalys, global shipments of desktops, notebooks, and workstations has increased by 55% year over year. The raw numbers—82.7 million units—also make it the highest Q1 shipment order since 2012.
Of course, this kind of growth is possible only because of a weak first quarter in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first began. And much of these early 2021 numbers are the result of supply-chain issues delaying shipments for months.
But new demand is also part of the equation as businesses recover. Shipments of notebooks and mobile workstations have increased by 79% from this time last year to reach 67.8 million units. Though orders for desktop computers are still on the decline, the numbers have levelled out a bit in 2021.
Lenovo, HP, Dell, Apple, and Acer, the market's top vendors, all saw increases in their total year-over-year shipment numbers. Apple grew by 105% year-over-year, while Acer managed 82% growth from this time last year. Lenovo and HP performed particularly well by shipping 20.4 and 19.2 million units, respectively, in Q1 2021.