The global PC market is in the healthiest shape since 2010, according to a new report from IDC, with the overall PC market growing 13.1% over the past year, with the last quarter showing the highest growth, up 26.1% year over year. This means that more than 91 million desktops, notebooks, and workstations were sold in the fourth quarter alone. In total, more than 300 million PCs were sold last year.

IDC breaks these numbers down by major OEM manufacturer, with Lenovo narrowly leading HP, with Dell, Apple, and Acer trailing. Apple showed the largest growth, up 29% year over year, but only 8% of the market, half the size of third-place Dell.

IDC attributes this growth to the continuing pandemic, which seems to be a correct reading of the situation. Many people have had to continue to telecommute, and while they initially got by with the hardware they had on hand, as we head toward the end of the year, they are feeling the need to upgrade to better hardware in order to continue working. Supporting this theory is the fact that sales of monitors are also high as home workers seek to create an efficient work environment.

The report further states that the PC market has been declining for six years between 2010 and 2020, but it is worth noting that this has not affected gaming PC shipments, which have been steadily growing for the past few years. Nevertheless, even this report states that gaming PC sales are also at an all-time high, but does not attempt to figure out why this is the case.

Of course, these figures do not include home-built gaming PCs, but the availability of new hardware these days probably makes the numbers dismal. For now, we can take solace in the fact that PCs are doing well in many ways.