For varied causes, it has been a fairly bleak couple of years for the PC market total. The pandemic and employee furloughs (significantly in China), a weak international economic system, part shortages and excessive promoting costs have all mixed to create one thing of an ideal storm. However the newest evaluation from John Peddie Analysis reveals a glimmer of hope. There are indicators suggesting the worst of the PC market downturn is behind us, at the very least on the CPU facet of issues.
In line with JPR, international shopper CPU shipments totaled 53.6 million models within the second quarter of 2023, which is a rise of 17% from the earlier quarter. That is the excellent news. The not so excellent news is that year-on-year shipments are down by 23% for desktops and 25% for notebooks, although given the quarterly quantity, these outcomes might have been so much worse.
When damaged down by vendor, Intel is the winner of the quarter, with a rise of 23% in market share, whereas AMD dropped by 5.3%. That may certainly be attributed to the broader availability of notebooks with Intel thirteenth Gen CPUs and inexpensive thirteenth Gen desktop CPUs. AMD does not but have inexpensive Ryzen 7000 sequence desktop CPUs, although pocket book Zen 4 chips are trickling into the market.
Trying on the desktop versus pocket book outcomes, Notebooks are liable for 72% of whole CPU shipments, with desktops taking the remaining 28%.
This uptick in second quarter shipments bodes effectively for the remainder of the yr and hopefully for 2024. There are some main new CPU releases coming, plus there’s the Black Friday gross sales and vacation season to return, making additional restoration within the CPU market more likely.
When it comes to CPU releases, Intel’s Raptor Lake refresh can be a driver of desktop CPU gross sales. Relying on Intel’s launch schedule, gross sales of first wave excessive finish fashions will certainly be small, earlier than extra inexpensive chips are launched later. It’s going to additionally take time for inexpensive pocket book fashions to return to market.
We’ll want to attend and see simply how aggressive Intel’s Meteor Lake household can be. It is certain to spice up efficiency, however issues like platform options, battery life and affordability may even contribute to Meteor Lake’s total success within the pocket book market, and whether or not it’s going to compel customers to improve.
On the AMD desktop facet, barring some as but unreleased Ryzen 3 fashions, it is laborious to see AMD gaining market share within the brief time period.
Issues are trying higher for AMD on the cellular facet of the market. Its Phoenix and Dragon Vary APUs are very aggressive, although they weren’t broadly accessible within the first half of the yr. If the OEMs give them the eye they deserve, then a rise in AMD-based pocket book gross sales is definite.
So, with an uptick in second quarter CPU shipments, with main gross sales occasions and CPU releases to return, there actually is mild on the finish of the tunnel for the general PC market. The GPU market then again… Effectively, there’s some work to do there.
