Tariff anxiety boosted first-quarter personal computer shipments, Canalys says

Reuters

Wed, Apr 9, 2025, 11:05 AM 2 min read

Global shipments of idiosyncratic computers roseate 9.4% successful the archetypal 4th of this twelvemonth arsenic PC makers boosted consignments to the United States successful anticipation of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, probe steadfast Canalys said connected Wednesday.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

As higher tariffs connected much countries crossed the globe instrumentality effect, some nonstop and indirect impacts could dampen a betterment successful the PC marketplace for the remainder of the year, Canalys said.

PC providers specified arsenic Dell and Apple, and chipmakers similar Intel, AMD and Qualcomm were relying connected request resurgence for PCs astatine the backmost of a Windows refresh rhythm and the summation of AI features to thrust sales.

KEY QUOTES

Pulling successful shipments to the archetypal 4th successful anticipation of tariffs "allowed manufacturers and the transmission to banal up up of imaginable outgo increases, boosting sell-in shipments contempt different unchangeable end-user demand," said Ishan Dutt, main expert astatine Canalys.

"Subsequent quarters this twelvemonth are apt to spot a slowdown arsenic inventory levels normalize and customers look higher prices."

CONTEXT

Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs, a cardinal diagnostic of his economical argumentation that has unsettled fiscal markets this year, came into effect earlier connected Wednesday, including monolithic 104% duties connected Chinese goods.

The interaction of tariffs connected user request is expected to beryllium greater, arsenic buying a much costly PC volition request to beryllium prioritized against different spending categories besides seeing terms increases, Canalys said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Total shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations grew 9.4% to 62.7 cardinal units successful the March 4th of 2025.

Lenovo and HP grew shipments to the U.S. successful the 4th by astir 20% and 13%, respectively.

By the extremity of 2025, astir large PC vendors are expected to person moved U.S.-bound shipments retired of China to mitigate the interaction of tariffs, Canalys said.

GRAPHIC

(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa successful Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)