The worldwide PC market ended its streak of annual shipment declines in the last quarter of 2023, posting a modest year-on-year growth of 3%. Total shipments of desktops and notebooks rose to 65.3 million units. Shipments of notebooks hit 51.6 million units, up 4% from 2022, while desktop shipments landed at 13.7 million units, declining 1%, according to Canalys.

“To capitalize on the demand uptick, the PC industry will now deliver meaningful innovation through on-device AI capabilities in PCs, with 2024 set to be a bumper year for such devices,” said Ishan Dutt, Principal Analyst at Canalys. “A slew of announcements from both OEMs and chipset vendors at CES will set the stage for more products to be brought to market later in the year. We expect one in five PCs shipped this year to be AI-capable, incorporating a dedicated chipset or block, such as an NPU, to run on-device AI workloads. Adoption will ramp up quickly thereafter, especially in the commercial sector, where the benefits of on-device AI related to productivity, security and cost management will become a key consideration for businesses.”

By 2027, Canalys forecasts that over 170 million AI-capable PCs will be shipped, with nearly 60% being deployed in commercial settings. 

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The Canalys and IDC PC Market reports are very close for companies Lenovo, HP and Dell. However, for positions four and five, the reports greatly differ. Both agree that Apple was solidly in fourth position, yet the Canalys chart above shows Apple gaining 9.3% growth YoY and gaining .06% market share. In stark contrast, IDC's chart below shows Apple at -18.4% with a loss of .09% market share.

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The two reports also have different companies in fifth spot. Canalys has Acer with 12% growth YoY whereas IDC places Asus in Fifth spot with -11.9% YoY growth.

For more details, review the reports by Canalys and IDC. We'll likely know which report was more accurate on February 1, 2024 when Apple releases their Fiscal Q1 results and holds their Conference Call.