Apple Sees Biggest Gains as Quarterly Personal Computer Shipments Jump

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. reported a 21% gain in personal computer shipments in the second quarter, the biggest jump among global PC makers as part of a budding industry recovery that produced a second consecutive period of growth.

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Worldwide shipments of desktops and laptops increased 3% from a year earlier in the period ended in June, according to a report Tuesday from IDC, an industry research firm. Apple and Acer Inc., which posted a jump of about 14%, saw the largest growth in shipments among major manufacturers.

“Two consecutive quarters of growth, combined with plenty of market hype around AI PCs and a less sexy but arguably more important commercial refresh cycle, seems to be what the PC market needed,” wrote Ryan Reith, an IDC group vice president.

The PC industry experienced historic declines in recent years after consumers, businesses and schools bought new machines during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, then held off on replacements. The results show that a cycle of new purchases is underway, wrote Amit Daryanani, an analyst at Evercore ISI.

Computer makers have touted AI PCs, a new type of device designed specifically to run artificial intelligence tasks, as helping fuel a new wave of upgrades. IDC has said only about 3% of PCs shipped this year will be AI-optimized.

Dell Technologies Inc.’s shipments decreased 2.4% in the quarter, making it the only major company to see a decline, while Lenovo Group Ltd. commanded the highest market share at almost 23%. HP Inc. saw an increase of 1.8% from a year earlier and was the second-biggest PC maker with 21% of the market.

Weak demand in China held the overall results back — excluding that country, worldwide shipments grew more than 5%, IDC said.

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