For numerous causes, it has been a fairly bleak couple of years for the PC market general. The pandemic and employee furloughs (notably in China), a weak international financial system, part shortages and excessive promoting costs have all mixed to create one thing of an ideal storm. However the newest evaluation from John Peddie Analysis exhibits a glimmer of hope. There are indicators suggesting the worst of the PC market downturn is behind us, not less than on the CPU facet of issues.
In line with JPR, international consumer CPU shipments totaled 53.6 million items within the second quarter of 2023, which is a rise of 17% from the earlier quarter. That is the excellent news. The not so excellent news is that year-on-year shipments are down by 23% for desktops and 25% for notebooks, although given the quarterly quantity, these outcomes might have been quite a bit worse.
When damaged down by vendor, Intel is the winner of the quarter, with a rise of 23% in market share, whereas AMD dropped by 5.3%. That may certainly be attributed to the broader availability of notebooks with Intel thirteenth Gen CPUs and inexpensive thirteenth Gen desktop CPUs. AMD does not but have inexpensive Ryzen 7000 sequence desktop CPUs, although pocket book Zen 4 chips are trickling into the market.
Trying on the desktop versus pocket book outcomes, Notebooks are accountable for 72% of whole CPU shipments, with desktops taking the remaining 28%.
This uptick in second quarter shipments bodes properly for the remainder of the 12 months and hopefully for 2024. There are some main new CPU releases coming, plus there’s the Black Friday gross sales and vacation season to come back, making additional restoration within the CPU market more likely.
When it comes to CPU releases, Intel’s Raptor Lake refresh can be a driver of desktop CPU gross sales. Relying on Intel’s launch schedule, gross sales of first wave excessive finish fashions will certainly be small, earlier than extra inexpensive chips are launched later. It’s going to additionally take time for inexpensive pocket book fashions to come back to market.
We’ll want to attend and see simply how aggressive Intel’s Meteor Lake household can be. It is positive to spice up efficiency, however issues like platform options, battery life and affordability will even contribute to Meteor Lake’s general success within the pocket book market, and whether or not it would compel customers to improve.
On the AMD desktop facet, barring some as but unreleased Ryzen 3 fashions, it is onerous to see AMD gaining market share within the brief time period.
Issues are wanting higher for AMD on the cell facet of the market. Its Phoenix and Dragon Vary APUs are very aggressive, although they weren’t broadly accessible within the first half of the 12 months. If the OEMs give them the eye they deserve, then a rise in AMD-based pocket book gross sales is for certain.
So, with an uptick in second quarter CPU shipments, with main gross sales occasions and CPU releases to come back, there actually is gentle on the finish of the tunnel for the general PC market. The GPU market alternatively… Effectively, there’s some work to do there.