Did you know Could 2024’s PC Market Struggles Be a Sign of Bigger Issues Ahead?

 

Many anticipated the PC market rebounding and hitting a new high for successful sales. After all, we saw many AI-infused laptops enter the market.

Despite the creative products on offer, it fell short of expectations and 2024 failed to make the recovery that tech giants had anticipated for the year. Thanks to recent stats from Gartner, the market grew only 1.3% YoY in 2024. The news comes after 2023 was highlighted as the worst in the past decade for PC sales.

 Analysts predicted AI PCs and businesses making the upgrade to newer Windows as leading contributors to the possible market shakeup. However, that did not prove to be true. Instead, we saw another wave of the latest AI PCs fail to see any spark in terms of sales because of how pricey things became.

Many countries around the globe still face a host of uncertainties and economic challenges like the EU and China. This does affect demand, analysts shared. The poor reception of AI PCs went from exciting to disappointing for some. Budgets are tight and this might not be the best of times to see such a launch. Customers are still trying hard to adapt to the AI trend and it might be a while until we see it take shape.

Well, it was not all bad in 2024. Some highlights worth mentioning included shipment growth from 4% to 6% as per the latest IDC stats. Many companies are planning to launch budget variants of AI PCs to deter the high price stigma. These could be offered for just $600, Qualcomm shared thanks to its use of the SnapdragonX chip.

The next couple of months is what could really decide the future of the world of PCs in America. We’ve got the new US government coming into play starting next week. Trump has already made threats to put new taxes on products made in China and Mexico that might result in prices for tablets, phones, and laptops reaching a new high and demand going down the drain.

Now AI on devices is not something that we can remove. Technology has really advanced and AI must be adopted. The goal is for suppliers to remain patient and see how 2025 plays out as expectations are kept low in terms of sales.