For almost a decade, computers have been present in almost all areas of life, serving as tools for work and multi-media devices for leisure. The pandemic has cemented their absolute necessity for daily activities, as shown by new sales figures.
Despite the global shortage in semi-conductors (the microchips essential for everything from car production to military weapons), PC sales around the world last year reached the highest levels in almost 10 years. This might largely be explained by the teleworking recommendations/obligations as well as the migration of much of child education online.
Market analytics companies calculate the increase to be somewhere between 10 and 15% on 2020 figures – itself already a bumper year for computer sales when the pandemic struck early that year. In total, between 340 and 349 million computers were sold worldwide in 2021.
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As in 2020, the market leader remains Lenovo, a Chinese brand that made a quarter of units sold in 2021. In second place is Hewlett-Packard (HP), who make up 20% of the market. Dell sits in third place with 17% of the market. Apple accounts for 8% but still saw an overall growth of +28% in computer sales.
For some years, PC sales had slowed as smartphones became ubiquitous and served as a more portable device still capable of many of a computer's functions. Individual consumers are quick to upgrade their mobiles, many doing so every couple of years. By contrast, companies have historically been slower to upgrade their computers but the pandemic led to technology upgrades across the board.
