The PC market surged with people being stuck indoors

Every year we see stories about how the PC is going to be replaced by the next big thing, and every year after that we see just how irreplaceable the PC really is. Even with the supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic, the PC market showed its largest growth in a decade.

All of the market analysis firms paint a picture of PC shipment increases that don’t look to be slacking off in 2021. Canalys put shipments up 11 percent from last year, IDC had the industry pegged at a 13.1 percent increase, and Gartner had the industry at a 4.8 percent increase on the year, their largest increase since 2010 with double-digits in the last quarter of 2020.

That’s down to the effects of the pandemic as a whole. Schools moved virtual-only, so did workplaces, and PC gamers stuck at home decided to build new rigs to stave off boredom. The demand for laptops was so strong that even pre-orders had long lead times, and PC components like GPUs and CPUs also had year-long shortages.

READ MORE: Macs are spanking the PC market right now

Even if you discount those additional drivers, the consumer market is strong according to IDC’s Ryan Reith, who says gaming PCs and monitor sales are at all-time highs, and Chromebooks are expanding out of education use into the consumer market. Microsoft also hit the 1 billion Windows 10 user mark back in March, and it’s anyone’s guess how many were added to that total since then.

Apple also saw a 17 percent bump in shipments according to Canalys, or a whopping 29 percent increase based on IDC’s estimates. That’s likely down to how well received the M1-powered Macbooks were by reviewers.

Let’s hope that 2021 gets a rosier outlook on stock availability so we can actually build a new one this year.

Have any thoughts on this? Did you upgrade your PC in 2020? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.