The PC market will be entering a positive outlook in the coming year as laptop makers have placed bets on the emerging "AI PC" trend which would field 11% growth in 2024.
AI PCs Coupled Up With Next-Gen Hardware Will Tempt Consumers To Purchase New Laptops in 2024, Expects Industry
The PC industry has been sluggish over the last two years mainly because consumers have been reluctant to switch to next-gen hardware plus the added inflation, rising prices, and supply chain factors. However, TechInsights reports that while shipments in 2023 are expected to drop by 27% when compared to 2021, it looks like next year is going to be a "joyful" one for the PC markets, as shipments are expected to take a rebound courtesy of several factors with AI PCs being the leading one.
This "upturn" in the PC industry was revealed by the market researcher Canalys as well, which has predicted PC shipments to reach 267 million units in 2024, which is an 8% YoY growth. TechInsights has revealed that global notebook shipments are expected to grow by 11% in 2024 compared to 2023 mainly attributed to the influx of artificial intelligence into the mainstream markets, along with the consumer upgrade cycle, which is expected to have a bigger impact this time. Moreover, the recent emergence of ARM-based competitors in the market has also been seen as a reason behind the growth.
The prediction of artificial intelligence actually "rescuing" the PC industry was already made by Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger who expressed that AI can transform the current state of markets, especially when it comes to actually integrating AI-focused features into mainstream applications. Moreover, companies like Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and AMD are moving towards introducing their ARM-based CPU solutions for the PC industry, which not only will ramp up the competition but will allow consumers to experience something different than the traditional x86 architecture.
Apart from the influx of new products, current standards such as AMD's AM5 platform are becoming more easily accessible mainly through a wave of discounts and promotions. Just recently, AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D has dropped down to an all-time low, making it the best time for consumers to switch to next-gen platforms.
AMD has also infused its next-gen Ryzen laptops APUs with powerful new AI engines such as XDNA 1 and XDNA 2 which will be shipping in 2024. This vibrant portfolio of AI PC solutions is going to pull in consumers interest and the research outlet expects PC shipments to hit almost 250 million units by 2025 and up to 15% growth within the segment.
2024 AI PC Platforms
| Brand Name | Intel | AMD | Intel | AMD | Qualcomm | Apple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Name | Lunar Lake "Core Ultra 200" | Strix "Ryzen AI 300" | Meteor Lake "Core Ultra 100" | Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" | Snapdragon X Elite | M3 |
| CPU Architecture | x86 | x86 | x86 | x86 | ARM | ARM |
| CPU Process | 3nm (N3B) | 4nm (N4P) | 7nm (Intel 4) | 4nm (N4) | 4nm | 3nm |
| Max CPU Cores | 8 Cores | 12 Cores | 16 Cores | 8 Cores | 12 Cores | 16 Cores (MAX) |
| NPU Architecture | NPU | XDNA 2 NPU | NPU | XDNA 1 NPU | Hexagon NPU | In-House |
| Total AI TOPS | 120 TOPs (48 TOPS NPU) | 85 TOPS (55 TOPS NPU) | 34 TOPS (11 TOPS NPU) | 38 TOPS (16 TOPS NPU) | 75 TOPS (Peak) | 18 TOPS |
| GPU Architecture | Battlemage Arc Xe2-LPG | RDNA 3+ | Alchemist Arc Xe-LPG | RDNA 3 | Adreno GPU | In-House |
| Max GPU Cores | 8 Xe-Cores | 12 Compute Units | 8 Xe-Cores | 12 Compute Units | TBD | 40 Cores |
| GPU TFLOPs | TBD | 11.9 TFLOPs | ~4.5 TFLOPS | 8.9 TFLOPS | 4.6 TFLOPS | TBD |
| Memory Support (Max) | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X-7500 | LPDDR5X-7467 | LPDDR5X-7500 | LPDDR5X-8533 | LPDDR5-6400 |
| Availability | 2H 2024 | 2H 2024 | Q4 2023 | Q1 2024 | Mid-2024 | Q4 2024 |
News Source: ITHome
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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