The worldwide traditional PC market is expected to remain more or less flat in 2024, with shipments reaching 260.2 million units, despite economic improvements and the emergence of AI PCs.
► Windows and education updates will fuel growth
► One in five PCs sold this year will have built-in AI
Excluding China, the PC market is forecast to grow 2.6% year over year in 2024 while the PC market in China is not expected to recover until the second half of 2025 due to the country's economy facing multiple challenges and, in the near term, inventory remains elevated. The forecasts are from the latest International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
For the rest of the world, PC shipments in 2024 will be driven by the Windows refresh cycle in business and a major wave of updates from systems in education, bought during the pandemic. IDC expects the consumer market to see an overall decline in shipments of 1.1% in 2024. However, the consumer market will grow 1.6% year-over-year if China is excluded.
AI PCs are expected to drive an increase in near-term shipments and drive increased average selling prices (ASPs). There is still a need for more well-defined use cases for business and enterprise uses of AI devices and consumer adoption will take longer.
IDC expects roughly one in five PCs shipped this year to have built-in AI capability (i.e. have a neural processing unit or NPU), increasing to nearly two out of every three shipped in 2028.
