The PC industry spans global shipments, vendor competition, company revenue, manufacturing employment, waste and energy efficiency. The latest figures below distinguish channel-shipment estimates from financial results, workforce measures and broader electronics categories.
Key PC Industry Statistics
The most useful headline measures are:
- In Q4 2024, 64.4 million PCs were shipped worldwide in Gartner’s preliminary channel-shipment estimate.
- Worldwide PC shipments grew 1.4% year over year in Q4 2024.
- The worldwide PC market reached 245.4 million units in 2024, compared with 242.3 million in 2023.
- Worldwide PC shipments grew 1.3% in 2024.
- Worldwide PC shipments remained below 250 million units for the second consecutive year in 2024.
- The worldwide PC market reached 340 million units in 2021, about 100 million more than the 2024 volume.
- China’s total PC market declined 12% year over year in Q4 2024.
- Lenovo shipped 16.960 million PCs worldwide and held 26.3% share in Q4 2024.
- HP shipped 13.724 million PCs worldwide and held 21.3% share in Q4 2024.
- Apple shipped 6.280 million PCs worldwide and held 9.8% share in Q4 2024.
- U.S. PC shipments totaled 17.192 million units in Q4 2024, up 3.5% year over year.
- HP held 26.1% of U.S. PC shipments in Q4 2024, with 4.495 million units.
- Lenovo’s U.S. PC shipments grew 11.6% year over year in Q4 2024.
- Apple reported $29.984 billion in Mac net sales for fiscal 2024.
- Apple reported $7.744 billion in Mac net sales for the three months ended September 28, 2024.
- The U.S. had 682,965 electronic component and product manufacturing workers in 2022.
- Selected U.S. consumer-electronics waste generation was 2.7 million tons in 2018.
- Selected U.S. consumer-electronics recycling was 38.5% in 2018.
- ENERGY STAR certified computers use about 30% to 40% less energy than standard models.
Contents
- Global PC shipments and market recovery
- PC vendor market share and growth
- U.S. PC market statistics
- PC industry revenue and Mac financial data
- Computer and electronics workforce data
- PC-related electronics waste and energy statistics
Global PC Shipments and Market Recovery
Gartner’s worldwide figures are preliminary estimates of channel shipments, not end-user sell-through or the installed base. The definition includes desktop and laptop PCs running Windows, macOS or Chrome OS.
| Period or comparison | Worldwide PC measure |
|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | 64.4 million units |
| Q4 2024 versus Q4 2023 | 1.4% growth |
| Full-year 2024 | 245.4 million units |
| Full-year 2023 | 242.3 million units |
| Full-year 2024 versus 2023 | 1.3% growth |
Q4 2024 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide PC shipment growth, according to Gartner’s preliminary quarterly estimates. Even with that recovery, annual shipment volume stayed below 250 million units for the second consecutive year in 2024.
Gartner placed the 2021 peak-growth year at 340 million units, roughly 100 million above 2024 volume. Its comparison also described 2024 as about 40 million units below pre-pandemic volume, although the release does not specify the exact pre-pandemic comparison year.
China moved against the worldwide pattern: its total PC market declined 12% year over year in Q4 2024. That regional measure is broader than a vendor-specific series and should not be read as a global result.
PC Vendor Market Share and Growth Statistics
The Q4 2024 worldwide vendor estimates show a concentrated market, with Lenovo, HP and Dell together accounting for the largest displayed shares. All figures in this section are Gartner preliminary channel-shipment estimates.
| Vendor | Q4 2024 shipments | Worldwide share | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo | 16.960 million | 26.3% | 4.2% growth |
| HP | 13.724 million | 21.3% | 1.7% decline |
| Dell | 9.970 million | 15.5% | 0.1% decline |
| Apple | 6.280 million | 9.8% | 4.6% growth |
| ASUS | 4.757 million | 7.4% | 9.8% growth |
| Acer | 4.131 million | 6.4% | 3.6% growth |
ASUS had the fastest displayed year-over-year growth at 9.8%, while Apple grew 4.6% and Lenovo grew 4.2%. HP and Dell recorded declines of 1.7% and 0.1%, respectively, showing that shipment recovery was uneven across leading vendors.
The share figures describe Q4 2024 worldwide channel shipments. They do not measure revenue share, profitability, installed devices or end-user sell-through.
U.S. PC Market Statistics by Leading Vendor
The U.S. market totaled 17.192 million PC shipments in Q4 2024, up 3.5% from Q4 2023 in Gartner’s preliminary estimate. The vendor mix differed from the worldwide table, particularly in the relative positions of Lenovo and Apple.
| Vendor | U.S. Q4 2024 shipments | U.S. share | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP | 4.495 million | 26.1% | 3.6% decline |
| Dell | 3.748 million | 21.8% | 1.5% decline |
| Lenovo | 2.958 million | 17.2% | 11.6% growth |
| Apple | 2.565 million | 14.9% | 3.8% growth |
Lenovo’s U.S. shipments grew 11.6% year over year, the strongest increase among the listed U.S. vendors. Apple grew 3.8%, while HP and Dell declined 3.6% and 1.5%, respectively.
These are U.S. channel-shipment estimates for Q4 2024, not measures of household ownership, installed base or consumer purchases at the point of use.
PC Industry Revenue and Mac Financial Data
Apple’s Mac figures provide a company-reported financial view of one PC vendor’s business. They use Apple fiscal periods and report net sales, so they should not be treated as unit shipments or as the revenue of the entire PC industry.
| Apple Mac financial measure | Period | Reported amount |
|---|---|---|
| Mac net sales | Three months ended September 28, 2024 | $7.744 billion |
| Mac net sales | Fiscal 2023 comparison quarter | $7.614 billion |
| Mac net sales | Fiscal year ended September 28, 2024 | $29.984 billion |
| Mac net sales | Fiscal 2023 | $29.357 billion |
Source: Apple, “Apple Inc. Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Fiscal 2024 Fourth Quarter”.
For the three months ended September 28, 2024, Mac net sales were $7.744 billion within Apple’s $94.930 billion total net sales. For fiscal 2024, Apple reported $391.035 billion in total net sales, $180.683 billion in consolidated gross margin and $123.216 billion in consolidated operating income.
Those company-wide margin and income figures are not Mac-specific results. They provide corporate context, but they cannot establish a standalone PC-industry margin or Mac operating income.
Computer and Electronics Workforce Data
U.S. Census workforce statistics use the electronic component and product manufacturing industry, which includes semiconductor-related manufacturing and is broader than PC manufacturing alone. The measures below describe the workforce in 2022.
- The U.S. had 682,965 workers in electronic component and product manufacturing in 2022.
- That workforce represented 4.2% of all U.S. manufacturing workers in 2022.
- Non-Hispanic White workers represented 53.2% of the U.S. electronic component and product manufacturing workforce in 2022.
- Native-born workers represented 67.4% of that workforce in 2022.
- Men accounted for approximately three-quarters of the workforce in 2022.
- Workers age 45 and over made up 52.1% of the workforce in 2022.
- Workers age 16 to 34 made up about 28% of the U.S. semiconductor-related workforce, compared with 35.3% of all workers.
The comparison population matters: women made up 47.3% of the overall U.S. working population in the Census comparison, while the approximately three-quarters male share refers to the broader electronic-component workforce.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, “Electronics Industry Facing an Aging Workforce”.
Because the industry classification is broader than PCs, these figures are best read as context for the electronics supply chain and labor pool rather than as a direct count of PC manufacturing jobs.
PC-Related Electronics Waste and Energy Statistics
EPA data are U.S. municipal-solid-waste estimates for selected consumer electronics and related durable goods. The selected-electronics category includes computer equipment, televisions, phones and other products, while 2018 is the latest year shown on the opened EPA page.
| EPA measure | Period | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Selected consumer-electronics generation | 2018 | 2.7 million U.S. tons |
| Selected consumer-electronics recycling rate | 2018 | 38.5% |
| Selected consumer-electronics recycled material | 2018 | 1.040 million tons |
| Selected consumer-electronics generation | 2010 | 3.120 million tons |
| Miscellaneous durable-goods generation | 2018 | 24.810 million tons |
| Miscellaneous durable goods recycled | 2018 | 1.480 million tons |
| Miscellaneous durable goods landfilled | 2018 | 20.280 million tons |
Source: U.S. EPA, “Durable Goods: Product-Specific Data”.
The durable-goods totals are even broader: they include personal computers, consumer electronics and many non-electronic durable goods. Consequently, neither the selected-electronics figures nor the miscellaneous durable-goods figures should be presented as PC-only waste.
ENERGY STAR provides a product-efficiency reference rather than an adoption survey. Its guidance says certified computers use about 30% to 40% less energy than standard models, with actual savings depending on the model, workload and use pattern.
Under ENERGY STAR Computers Version 9.0 criteria, the display must enter sleep within 15 minutes of user inactivity, and the system must enter sleep within 30 minutes of user activity. These are specification requirements, not observed behavior across all computers.
Source: ENERGY STAR, “Computers”.