April 9 - Global shipments of personal computers rose

9.4% in the first quarter of this year as PC makers boosted

consignments to the United States in anticipation of President

Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, research firm Canalys said on

Wednesday.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

As higher tariffs on more countries across the globe take

effect, both direct and indirect impacts could dampen a recovery

in the PC market for the remainder of the year, Canalys said.

PC providers such as Dell and Apple ( AAPL ), and

chipmakers like Intel ( INTC ), AMD and Qualcomm ( QCOM )

were relying on demand resurgence for PCs at the back

of a Windows refresh cycle and the addition of AI features to

drive sales.

KEY QUOTES

Pulling in shipments to the first quarter in anticipation of

tariffs "allowed manufacturers and the channel to stock up ahead

of potential cost increases, boosting sell-in shipments despite

otherwise stable end-user demand," said Ishan Dutt, principal

analyst at Canalys.

"Subsequent quarters this year are likely to see a slowdown

as inventory levels normalize and customers face higher prices."

CONTEXT

Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs, a key feature of his economic

policy that has unsettled financial markets this year, came into

effect earlier on Wednesday, including massive 104% duties on

Chinese goods.

The impact of tariffs on consumer demand is expected to be

greater, as buying a more expensive PC will need to be

prioritized against other spending categories also seeing price

increases, Canalys said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Total shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations grew

9.4% to 62.7 million units in the March quarter of 2025.

Lenovo ( LNVGF ) and HP grew shipments to the U.S. in the quarter by

around 20% and 13%, respectively.

By the end of 2025, most major PC vendors are expected to

have moved U.S.-bound shipments out of China to mitigate the

impact of tariffs, Canalys said.

GRAPHIC