Monday Morning Impact – July 22

Published On: July 21, 2024Categories: Buzz

Two Prominent Market Researchers See Growth in Global PC Sales

Two market researchers have issued reports quantifying the growth of PC sales at a global level.

According to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, worldwide shipments reached 64.9 million units in the second quarter of 2024 (2Q24), representing year-over-year growth of 3.0%. While the overall market benefited from favorable comparisons to 2023, weak results in China continued to hold the market back. Excluding China, worldwide shipments grew more than 5% year over year.

“Make no mistake, the PC market just like other technology markets faces challenges in the near term due to maturity and headwinds,” said group vice president Ryan Reith. “However, 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. The buzz is clearly around AI, but a lot is happening with non-AI PC purchasing to make this mature market show signs of positivity.”

In recent months, most of the industry players have laid out their initial strategies for AI PCs focusing primarily on the component side and the potential of the commercial market. While IDC believes the commercial market has the biggest short-term upside for AI in the PC industry, the consumer story has yet to be told in full. All eyes are on Apple to drive that message later this year with anticipated product launches, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD are all likely to make noise around both consumer and commercial AI PCs, according to IDC.

Meanwhile, Canalys shows gathering momentum in Q2 2024, with worldwide shipments of desktops and notebooks up 3.4% year-on-year, reaching 62.8 million units. Shipments of notebooks (including mobile workstations) hit 50 million units, growing 4%. Desktops (including desktop workstations), which constitute 20% of the total PC market, experienced a slight 1% growth, totaling 12.8 million units. The stage is now set for accelerated growth as the refresh cycle driven by the Windows 11 transition and AI PC adoption ramps up over the next four quarters, according to Canalys.

The market researcher says that PC (excluding tablets) shipments to the United States grew 5% year-on-year to 14.8 million units in Q1 2024. The consumer and SMB segments were the key growth drivers, both witnessing shipment increases above 9% year-on-year in the first quarter. With a strong start to the year, the market is now poised for a healthy recovery trajectory amid the ongoing Windows refresh cycle. Total PC shipments to the US are expected to hit 69 million units in 2024 before growing another 8% to 75 million units in 2025.

“The PC industry is going from strength to strength with a third consecutive quarter of growth,” said Ishan Dutt, Principal Analyst at Canalys. “The market turnaround is coinciding with exciting announcements from vendors and chipset manufacturers as their AI PC roadmaps transition from promise to reality.”

Channel Impact^®
The data point to an opportunity for channel partners to add PCs as an enhancement to larger engagements as well as for contracts related to PCs only.

Tech Industry Job Gains Offset by Slowdowns in Other Tech Employment

Technology industry job growth in June was offset by slowdowns in other key employment metrics, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by CompTIA, an industry association based in suburban Chicago.

The tech industry added an estimated 7,540 net new workers in June, the biggest monthly increase in 2024, according to the association’s report.

Technology services and software development occupations continue to lead new hiring, a positive sign for the small and medium-size segment of the sector. The total base of US tech industry employment stands at approximately 5.6 million workers.

That positive result was countered by the loss of 22,000 tech occupations throughout the economy. The tech unemployment rate experienced an unexpected jump to 3.7%, moving directionally with the national unemployment rate increase for the month.

“Despite pockets of growth, the recent data indicates a degree of downward pressure on tech employment,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “A combination of factors, including AI FOMO, likely contributes to segments of employers taking a wait and see approach with tech hiring.”

New employer job postings for tech positions totaled nearly 200,000 in June, down slightly month-over-month. In total there were more than 444,600 active tech job postings for the month and 2.5 million for the year.

Among major metropolitan markets, San Francisco and Denver recorded healthy gains in the number of job postings from May to June. Open positions in San Francisco totaled 6,110, an increase of 1,077 from May. In Denver, tech job postings increased by 424 to 3,684. Most other metro markets saw modest declines. California, Texas and Virginia had the highest volumes of June tech job postings among the states.

Channel Impact^®
Partners are seeing positive movement in hiring despite declines in related areas.

Intelisys Appoints New President

Intelisys, a technology services distributor owned by ScanSource, has announced the appointment of Ken Mills as its new president. In this role, Mills will lead the company’s strategic direction with a focus on driving sustainable growth for the company, its partners and suppliers.

Mills brings nearly 25 years of leadership experience with a variety of companies and organizations, including Dell, Cisco, and the US State Department. He most recently served as CEO for Epic iO Technologies where he increased revenue and developed partner-focused platforms to improve productivity and efficiency. Mills has insight on AI, IoT, 5G, and various other technologies.

“Ken is a very strategic and thoughtful leader, whose vision, insight and commitment to driving growth will be of great benefit to Intelisys and our partners,” said Mike Baur, Chair and CEO of ScanSource. “Ken is committed to advancing the Intelisys business by first listening to the valued insight from our team, partners and suppliers to truly understand the culture, opportunities and concerns of our ecosystem.”

Mills holds his Master of Public Administration from Clemson University and completed the Naval Nuclear Engineering Program in the United States Navy. He has held roles as a board member for Industrial Security Integrators, the Security Industry Association (SIA), the University of South Florida Muma College of Business, and the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security.

Mills will report to Mike Baur.

Channel Impact^®
Mills is expected to focus on creating meaningful enterprise value, while simultaneously developing a solid and successful company vision that will amplify the success of its partners.

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