According to Omdia, the shipment of AI PCs in the second quarter of 2024 was 8.8 million units. These devices include desktops and laptops equipped with dedicated AI workloads chips or modules, such as NPU. The shipment of AI PCs accounts for 14% of the total PC shipments this quarter. With the gradual advancement of AI PC plans from major processor vendors, it is expected that the supply and adoption of AI PCs will significantly increase in the second half of 2024 and beyond.

Ishan Dutt, chief analyst of Canalys, said:"Q2 2024 added great momentum to the expansion of AI PC. In June, Copilot+PC powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X series chips based on the Arm architecture was officially released. Due to the short time since the launch and the limited coverage, the shipment volume of this quarter is relatively small, but Windows OEM's commitment to widely adopt Snapdragon chips in its product portfolio of Copilot+PC indicates a promising future for this type of product. In the x86 field, Intel has accelerated the delivery speed of Core Ultra chipsets, which has strong performance in AI PC compared to the previous period, while AMD released Ryzen AI 300 series notebook processors in June and plans to start releasing notebook products in mid-July. "

Dutt added:"With the gradual consolidation of the foundation, AI PC shipments are expected to further increase in the second half of 2024. Processor suppliers and OEMs will target a wider range of customers by offering more product categories of various price ranges. At the same time, channel partners expressed their favor for AI PC-related functions. In the channel survey in May, nearly 60% of respondents said they expected consumers to prefer devices with Copilot. Canalys predicts that the market performance of AI PC is basically in line with expectations, and its shipment volume will reach 44 million units in 2024, and it is expected to reach 0.103 billion units in 2025. "

Manufacturers and their AI highlights

Apple's entire Mac product line, including the M series chips with neural engines, is leading in terms of AI PC output and market share. Apple Intelligence is currently in the developer testing phase in the United States, and its release further clarifies the application scenarios of Mac in the AI field. When these features go live, they will be compatible with existing Mac devices in most departments, allowing Apple to quickly expand the reach of its AI experience to users.

In the Windows field, the AI PC shipment volume increased by 127% month-on-month. Lenovo (00992), as the PC manufacturer with the highest global shipment volume, helped its AI PC reach a share of about 6% in the total Windows PC shipment volume by launching the Yoga Slim 7x and ThinkPad T14s equipped with the Snapdragon X processor. This means that the AI PC shipment volume increased by 228% month-on-month. Hp Inc (HPQ.US) accounts for approximately 8% of the AI PC shipments in the Windows PC shipment volume, and in addition to launching more Core Ultra devices across its product lines, it has also introduced the Omnibook X 14 and EliteBook Ultra G1 equipped with Snapdragon processors and Copilt+ technology. With its strong business influence, Dell (DELL.US) has a slightly lower share of AI PC in the Windows PC shipment volume, at just under 7%. Dell has introduced the Copilot+ PC in the XPS, Latitude, and Inspiron series, but the launch times of these products are staggered.

Dutt continued:"AI PC brings a key benefit to PC OEMs by promoting the growth of their high-end products. In Q2 2024, the shipment volume of Windows PCs with a price above $800 grew by 9% compared to the previous period, while the shipment volume of AI PCs in this price range increased by 126%. As the range of first- and third-party applications that use NPUs continues to expand and the benefits of performance and efficiency become increasingly clear, the value positioning of AI PCs will remain strong. This is particularly important in the next 12 months as the Windows upgrade cycle continues and a large proportion of devices will be updated."

The minimum requirements for Canalys AI-capable PC include: • Desktop or laptop with a dedicated chipset or module to run edge AI workloads. Examples of dedicated chipsets include: AMD's XDNA, Apple's Neural Engine, Intel's AI Boost, and Qualcomm's Hexagon.

Examples of dedicated chipsets include: AMD's XDNA, Apple's Neural Engine, Intel's AI Boost, and Qualcomm's Hexagon, which are used to run edge AI workloads on desktops or laptops.