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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesIDC reported 59.8 million worldwide shipments of traditional PCs in the first quarter of 2024, up 1.5% from a year earlier. It was the market’s first year-over-year increase after two years of contraction, but the roughly 900,000-unit gain signals a tentative stabilization—not a boom.
What IDC’s 1.5% figure measures
The figures were preliminary results from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, published April 8, 2024. They cover worldwide shipments of traditional PCs during January through March—not every kind of computing device. IDC’s tracker report is the source of the overall market estimate.
A shipment is a unit moving through the supply chain, typically from a manufacturer into distribution. It is not necessarily a PC already purchased by an end user. The figure therefore does not establish that retail sell-through rose by 1.5%, nor does it show changes in vendor revenue, profitability, average selling prices, or the installed base of PCs in use.
Growth returned, but the market was still below its pandemic-era highs
| Comparison | Traditional PC shipments | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2023 | 58.9 million | Prior-year comparison |
| Q1 2024 | 59.8 million | Up 1.5% year over year, or about 900,000 units |
| Q1 2019 | 60.5 million | Q1 2024 was close to this pre-pandemic benchmark |
The comparison with 2019 indicates that shipment volume had nearly returned to that earlier level, not that demand had returned to a peak. Q1 2024 remained below the elevated shipments of 2020 and 2021, when pandemic-era conditions drove unusually strong PC demand. IDC’s characterization of the quarter as a return to growth is significant mainly because the direction changed after two declining years; the increase itself was modest.
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How the leading PC makers performed
The vendor figures below are preliminary IDC estimates reported by Thurrott, and market share refers to IDC’s measured traditional-PC shipment category. The reported vendor table shows that the early recovery was uneven.
| Vendor | Q1 2024 shipments | Year-over-year change | Market share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo | 13.7 million | +7.8% | 23.0% |
| HP | 12.0 million | +0.2% | 20.1% |
| Dell | 9.3 million | −2.2% | 15.5% |
| Apple | 4.8 million | +14.6% | 8.1% |
| Acer | 3.7 million | +9.2% | 6.2% |
- Lenovo remained the largest vendor by shipments and grew faster than the overall market.
- HP held second place, with shipments essentially flat.
- Dell was the only one of the top three to decline.
- Apple had the fastest percentage growth among the five listed vendors, but its shipment volume and share were well below those of Lenovo, HP, and Dell.
- Acer also outpaced the market’s growth rate, from a smaller shipment base.
These shipment estimates describe units and share, not financial performance. They cannot by themselves establish that a vendor’s revenue or profit rose or fell.
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What IDC said was behind the improvement
IDC pointed to moderating inflation in important markets, demand stabilizing across much of the world, and the prospect of businesses refreshing hardware after the pandemic-era buying cycle. These are explanations for the broader conditions around the shipment result, not proof that any single factor caused the increase.
China remained a drag on the global picture, according to the reporting on IDC’s results. A worldwide gain should not be read as evidence that PC demand improved in every country.
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IDC also viewed AI PCs as a potential catalyst for future demand. That was a forward-looking expectation at the time of the April 2024 report; the Q1 shipment numbers do not show that AI PCs had already become a mass-market growth driver.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does Q1 2024 confirm a PC-market turnaround?
It is evidence of an early inflection, not confirmation of a durable expansion. The quarter ended the sequence of annual declines and brought shipments close to the Q1 2019 level. But overall growth was just 1.5%, vendors diverged sharply, China was still weak, and the figures were preliminary. The data establishes that shipments stopped shrinking year over year in that quarter; it does not settle how long the recovery would last or how strong it would become.
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