PC shipments to continue to surge in 2021

PC shipments grew 12.9% in 2020 as remote workers rushed to equip themselves with the tools needed to manage remote work and study amid the COVID-19 pandemic, IDC estimates.

This strong demand is expected to continue through to 2021 even as the vaccine rollout expands worldwide, because demand will continue to exist for new PCs to enable hybrid use cases that will be required as the world finds a post COVID-19 normal, IDC predicts.

Total shipments are expected to grow to 18.2% this year reaching 357.4 million units worldwide. This is expected to result in a total CAGR for the market of 2.5% for 2020–2025.

“While companies around the world continue to determine reopening plans and what the ‘new normal’ will look like, PC demand will experience meaningful tailwinds,” commented Ryan Reith, Program Vice President with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers division.

“This is all happening while education backlogs continue to grow and retail channel inventory in many geographies is still well below historical levels. IDC estimates the backlog of PC shipments heading into 2021 was large, and depending on how long this demand continues there is a strong likelihood we will enter 2022 with an outsized backlog, albeit not as significant as current levels.”

Total shipments are expected to continue to be somewhat impacted by supply chain concerns, particularly around integrated circuits.

But IDC noted that as the demand outlook continues to move upward so does the pressure on suppliers to increase capacity. Assuming no further supply disruptions, the research firm expects PC supply and manufacturing capacity to be in balance by the middle of 2021.

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