Dell has warned that 2023 could be another extremely challenging year after a rough end to 2022 for the company.
Despite announcing record revenue for the 2023 fiscal year that ended for the company last month, Dell’s revenue for the last quarter fell 11%, indicating tough months ahead.
Much of the company’s success, however, can be attributed to its Infrastructure Solutions Group, which is responsible for cloud operations, and its PC sales are quietly declining.
Global computer sales
Dell shipped just over 50,000 desktops and notebooks in calendar year 2022, down from nearly 60,000 in 2021, according to research firm Canalys, down 16.1% (an industry average of 16.4%) .
Despite a difficult year, Dell maintains its position as the third most popular computer company behind Lenovo and HP (who saw larger drops in shipments), successfully accounting for exactly 17.4% of the market both years in a row.
Dell’s co-chief operating officer Chuck Whitten suggested that this may not be the case for the company, noting that while “core demand for PCs and servers remains weak, (we) see signs of changing customer behavior in the warehouse.”
Dell shipped 37.2% fewer PCs in the last quarter of 2022 (note that this differs from the company’s last fiscal quarter), making it the weakest of the top five companies.
As the world cuts spending on PCs, Dell is preparing to shift its focus to other activities. Whitten, who is “satisfied [Dell’s] rush in memory,” he said:
“We expect to gain more than one point share of core server and storage revenue when IDC calendar results are released later this month.”
No one will guess exactly what the coming year will look like for the PC market, there have been several conflicting forecasts in recent months, however, our growing demand for increasingly cloud-based storage continues to pay dividends to traditional PC companies that are eager to explore other avenues.