When the iPad first went on sale in 2010 pessimists proclaimed the end of the laptop era. Ten iPad generations later and that prediction has yet to materialise. But plunging sales over the past year suggest that the laptop’s end approaches more rapidly than ever.
The global personal computer market has contracted for years, yet many office workers still rely on them. In the first quarter, total shipments of desktops and notebooks fell a third over the previous year, the fourth straight quarter of double-digit declines, according to Canalys data. Notebook shipments suffered the largest decline, falling 34 per cent compared with a 28 per cent drop for desktops. These are now below the previous nadir in 2018.
On Wednesday, Lenovo’s earnings miss underscored this. The world’s leading PC maker reported a 24 per cent revenue drop for the first quarter. Net income fell 72 per cent to $114mn, significantly missing expectations. The latest results mark its third straight quarter of declines. Shares fell 8 per cent.