Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard about the ongoing chip shortage. The situation is a result of several factors including the Coronavirus pandemic and cryptocurrency mining boom.
Despite the shortage, research firm Canalys published a report that shows a 55% increase in shipment of computers. According to the report, 82.7 million units were shipped in Q1 2021, highest Q1 shipment number since 2012. The shipment numbers were led by Apple that recorded a 105% annual growth and was followed by Acer and HP sitting at 82% and 64% respectively.
Rushabh Doshi, Research Director at Canalys said:
The supply chain issue plaguing the industry is a good problem to have. As average prices rise due to the scarcity of internal hardware, innovation in design is triggering long-term changes to the way PC vendors approach supply and demand. Chipmakers, too, are now bullish about personal computing, and have increased their planned future investments to capitalize on the long-term opportunity. While the pandemic is not over just yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is also spurring SMB investment in computing, which halted abruptly in 2020.
In terms of market share, Lenovo topped the charts again with 25% of the market and was followed closely by HP at 23%. Dell lost market share in Q1 but was able to secure third spot with 15% of the market. Apple and Acer made up for the rest of the market controlling 8% and 6% respectively.
Moving forward, Canalys expects the PC market to be "supply-constrained" for most of this year as chip shortage continues. Furthermore, it noted that uncertainties due to the pandemic and the need for economic recovery should serve as a wake-up call for governments to start investing in semiconductor industry to address the chip shortage.