Canalys: PC Sales Growth Constant Year-Over-Year

The PC sales market has continued to stabilize, with the total number of computers shipped in Q4 of 2024 rising at a steady rate matching the last five quarters.

The total shipment of desktops, notebooks and workstations rose by 4.6% in Q4 2024, according to Canalys' latest data, or 67.4 million units sold. Notebook shipments grew by 6.2%, reaching a total of 53.7 million units sold. Desktops were less popular, dropping the total sold 1.4% to 13.7 million units.

Canalys' Kieren Jessop

“2024 was a year of modest recovery and a return to traditional seasonality for the PC market as full-year shipments grew 3.8%," said Kieren Jessop, analyst at Canalys. The increase in sales signaled a "positive trend," Jessop added, as many PC users are approaching the Oct. 2025 deadline for the end of support for Windows 10.

Why the change in numbers this quarter?

"Holiday season demand was supported by strong discounting by vendors and retailers, enticing consumers who have become increasingly price-sensitive," said Jessop. "Additionally, the use of buy now, pay later services supported this trend, with increasing examples of these offerings being leveraged to drive spending on big-ticket items, such as PCs. In China, government stimulus in the form of consumer subsidies helped to promote spending on notebooks amid a demand environment that had been weakening.” 

Related:Canalys: AI PC Market Share Grew in Q3

Who Leads the PC Sales Market

Lenovo was the lead seller of the quarter, shipping 16.9 million units worldwide. HP followed them with 13.7 million units, Dell with 9.9 million and Apple at 5.9 million.

Analysts expect to see some significant growth in the following quarter. “Looking ahead, the PC market is set for accelerating growth, primarily driven by commercial demand as businesses prepare for the end of Windows 10,” said Ishan Dutt, principal analyst at Canalys. “The advances showcased at CES 2025 highlight the industry’s commitment to making AI-capable PCs a halo category, enticing customers into conversations around a wider fleet refresh. As CPU and PC vendor roadmaps begin to bring on-device AI into more categories, price bands and regions, we anticipate that AI-capable PCs will account for 35% of worldwide shipments in 2025.” 

It's unclear how many of those units were AI-powered. The new type of computer has grown in prominence in the last quarter, with AI-powered PCs accounting for 20% of sales in Q3 2024.