Remote Work, Order Backlog Propels US PC Market Up 73 Pct In Q1 2021

The U.S. saw a surge in the PC market as work-from-home continued in the first quarter of 2021, a Canalys study found, according to a press release.

The market grew 73 percent in Q1, the release stated. That includes total shipments of desktops, notebooks, tablets and workstations hovering above 34 million units.

The top earners included notebooks and tablets, according to the release. Notebooks saw a 131 percent rate of growth compared to last year, and tablets saw 52 percent growth. There was more demand because of the remote work trend. Tablets also saw 11 million units shipped because of the demand spilling over from the December holiday season.

Meanwhile desktops fell behind as demand was not as strong, the release stated.

In the U.S., HP led the pack of vendors with more than 7 million units shipped in Q1 as it fulfilled commercial backlogs and saw solid Chromebook performance, according to the release. The Chromebook market grew by 548 percent in the last year.

“Chromebooks were the fastest-growing category in the U.S. in Q1,” said Canalys Research Analyst Brian Lynch in the release. “The platform has seen unprecedented growth over the past year in the U.S., spearheaded by its dominance in the education space.”

For the first time since Q3 2019, Apple lost its top position as the biggest PC vendor in Q1, although it still posted 36 percent annual growth, the release stated.

Meanwhile, Lenovo and Samsung both saw annual growth of 93 percent and 116 percent, respectively, according to the release. Dell shipments increased by 29 percent year over year.

In the future, supply issues could hamper the industry, and demand could go unfulfilled through the early part of 2022, the release stated. The President Joe Biden administration, hoping to address the supply issue, plans to invest almost $50 billion toward semiconductor manufacturing.

Last year, sales of PCs saw their best numbers in years, which Gregg Prendergast, Pan-America president at Acer Inc., said had strained the supply chain. Acer had to start flying PCs to customers at its own cost, as opposed to relying on measures like sea or rail, which take more time.