The decline of PC sales eased in Q2 2023

The firm expects a further improvement in 2023 with 41% of the brands saying they had less than one week of PC inventory. (Image: MSI)

According to a new report, the decline in PC sales seems to have eased a bit in the second quarter of 2023.

Analytics firm Canalys said the total shipments of desktops and notebooks were down by 11.5% with a total of 62.1 million units. This follows two consecutive quarters of PC shipments decline by over 30%.

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Canalys said this marked a sequential increase in shipments by 11.9% and could be a sign that the market is on track for recovery. Notebook shipments were down 9.3% annually, totaling 49.4 million units. Desktops were down 19.3% with a total of 12.6 million units.

"An annual shipment decline was expected in the second quarter of 2023, but there are indications that many of the issues that have affected the sector are beginning to abate," said Ishan Dutt, Principal analyst at Canalys.

Dutt added that while the "global macroeconomic situation remains difficult", many PC brands were touting stronger user activation rates. As the situation improves, businesses are also expected, "to reallocate dormant spending back toward IT upgrades".

Dutt attributed the slowdown to, "the return of public sector funding", that "helped fuel strong back-to-school demand for PCs.”

The firm expects a further improvement in 2023 with 41% of the brands saying they had less than one week of PC inventory.

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"All customer segments are set to improve sequentially for the remainder of 2023 amid a final push of inventory corrections and stronger seasonality in the latter half of the year," said Kieren Jessop, Research Analyst at Canalys.

"However, full-year 2023 shipments will be lower than 2022 as consumers relegate spending on PCs behind other categories in a post-pandemic environment,” Jessop added.