According to data from the market analysts at Gartner and IDC, PC sales fell 16 percent in 2022, with fourth-quarter sales down an even worse 28.3 percent. PC sales have been worsening in each quarter over the past year, and the question now is when the bloodletting will stop.

PC makers sold 289 million units in calendar year 2022, a drop of 16 percent from the 344.3 million they sold in 2021. But in Q4, PC sales fell off a cliff, with PC makers selling 66.25 million units, a drop of 28.3 percent when compared to the 92.4 million units sold in the year-ago quarter. As always, this data represents the averages of that cited by Gartner and IDC.

“The anticipation of a global recession, increased inflation, and higher interest rates have had a major impact on PC demand,” Gartner director analyst Mikako Kitagawa said. “Since many consumers already have relatively new PCs that were purchased during the pandemic, a lack of affordability is superseding any motivation to buy, causing consumer PC demand to drop to its lowest level in years.”

“Consecutive quarters of declines clearly paint a gloomy picture of the PC market, but this is really all about perception,” IDC group vice president Ryan Reith added. “2021 was near historic levels for PC shipments, so any comparison is going to be distorted. There’s no question when we look back at this time that the rise and fall of the PC market will be one for the record books, but plenty of opportunity still lies ahead. We firmly believe the market has the potential to recover in 2024 and we also see pockets of opportunity throughout the remainder of 2023.”

Lenovo is again the world’s largest maker of PCs, with 15.55 million units sold, a fall of 28.5 percent year-over-year (YOY). HP was again in second place, with 13.2 million units sold, a fall of 29 percent. And Dell (10.8 million units, -37.1 percent), Apple (7.2 million, -6 percent), and ASUS (4.8 million, -30 percent) accounted for the rest of the top five.

In the good news department, 2022 PC sales remained higher than pre-pandemic levels and were roughly even with the units sold in 2015.