What you need to know
- Counterpoint Research recently indicated global PC shipments have grown by 3% year-over-year in Q1 2024.
- The firm attributes this shift to the hype building around AI PCs and a fresh replacement cycle.
- The research firm expects a 3% year-over-year growth in PC shipments in 2024 with the presumption that most manufacturers will promote AI PCs as their main products in the second half of 2024.
The economy seems to be stabilizing after the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a new report by Counterpoint Research, Global PC Shipment growth was 3% year over year in Q1 2024.
The research firm expects a 3% year-over-year growth in PC shipments in 2024. This result is based on the hype building around AI PCs and a fresh replacement cycle. Manufacturers are also anticipated to “promote AI PCs as their main products in the second half of 2024 as semiconductor companies prepare to launch SoCs featuring higher TOPS.”
According to Counterpoint Research’s Senior Analyst, Wiliam Li:
“We believe the shipment and deployment of generative AI laptops will accelerate in 2025-2026, along with emerging generative AI functions and use cases, supported by chip vendors’ new processor platforms.”
Lenovo is at the top of the food chain with an 8% growth in the global PC shipments market share, pushing it to 24% in Q1 2024. HP comes in second place, though it hasn’t reported significant growth. Dell came in third but with a 2% decline in global PC shipments year-over-year. Finally, Apple also registered a 2.5% growth, attributed to its cutting-edge M3 chips.
AI PCs will help restore balance
Analysts and researchers are betting on the best AI PCs to help grow global PC shipments. As you may know, most devices might not be AI-ready. As such, there might be a sudden need for a new device in the "AI PC" category with the most significant technology revolution ahead of us.
Interestingly, the definition of an AI PC differs from one company to another. According to Microsoft, an AI PC must ship with a CPU, GPU, and NPU to support Copilot and also feature a dedicated Copilot button. This definition means your PC might ship with sophisticated hardware and software but won't be seen as an AI PC because it doesn't have a Copilot key.
Moreover, as we've exclusively reported, Microsoft's upcoming "AI Explorer" feature may only ship with forthcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors, like the just-announced Snapdragon X Plus, because those chips have NPUs (neural processing units) that hit 45 TOPS, making them significantly more potent than Intel and AMD (and even Apple). Although AMD and Intel are expected to ship 'next-gen' 45 TOPS NPUs, eventually, those laptops won't likely be in customers' hands until early 2025.
