The first quarter of 2024 was positive for most PC manufacturers, with Lenovo and Apple in particular being the absolute front runners.

The AI ​​hype doesn’t seem to be hurting most PC makers. Even though we said at the beginning of the year that the AI ​​PC shouldn’t keep you up at night (yet), manufacturers are still fully convinced. Result: According to the analysis company IDC, 59.8 million PCs were shipped in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 1.5 percent compared to the previous year.

The main winners are Lenovo (+7.8%) and Apple (+14.6%). Dell (-2.2%) and Asus (-4.5%) have to make concessions, so that the latter is now on a par with Acer in the rankings.

The same period last year, the first quarter of 2023, was the lowest point in the PC market, when the number of devices shipped fell 28 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022.

It is important to emphasize that these are delivered devices. Lenovo may have just shipped a large batch of the latest integrated Intel AI chips, and HP won’t start working on them until April. The range of AI-based Intel chips is still brand new. The second quarter 2024 figure will provide a clearer picture between manufacturers.

The positive thing is that we are staying away from the declining PC numbers of the last few years. For the first time there is (cautious) growth. IDC expects full-year 2024 numbers to be positive due to falling inflation in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the US. Only China can thwart the plans with its weakening economy.

IDC expects that PC manufacturers can look forward to a better 2024 thanks to the further expansion of the range of AI PCs and the associated slightly more expensive price of these devices. AMD already has an offering on the market today with its Ryzen 7040 chips and Intel with its Core Ultra chips. Qualcomm is also expected to join the mix over the summer with its promising Snapdragon X Elite ARM chip for PCs.