PC shipments grew by 1.3% to reach 245.3 million units in 2024, says Gartner

Market Researcher Gartner reported that the worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2024, a 1.4% increase from the fourth quarter of 2023. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of sustained shipment growth. For the year, PC shipments reached 245.3 million units in 2024, a 1.3% increase from 2023. This marks the second consecutive year shipment volume has dipped below 250 million. 

“Despite the increased expectations for the adoption of AI PCs and the anticipated Windows 11 PC refresh cycle, the global PC market recorded only modest growth in the fourth quarter of 2024,” said Ranjit Atwal, Sr. Director Analyst at Gartner. “For consumers, the price of AI PCs was a deterrent to any potential strong adoption, while economic uncertainties in some regions, such as China and parts of Europe, continued to stifle PC demand.

“We expect PC demand to pick up and the market to see solid growth in 2025, reflecting delayed Windows 11 PC refresh demand and the increasing business value of AI PCs as use cases mature,” said Atwal.

There were no changes in the top six vendor rankings in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, there were mixed results in performance. HP Inc. and Dell Technologies showed modest decline, but all other vendors recorded year-over-year growth (see Table 1).