The last two years have had a profound and durable impact on how we live our lives, with the PC playing a more meaningful role than ever. Recently a friend reflected that he never would have expected that his eight-year-old son would become proficient in Teams and OneNote or that his seventy-two-year-old mother would become an Instacart convert. New behaviors that were born out of necessity have evolved into habits as people and organizations reevaluate their priorities through a new lens.
A new hybrid infrastructure now exists – across work, school, and life-enabling more flexibility in where and how people spend their time. And the PC is the hub. This is driving a new era of PC use, with a durable increase in the number of minutes spent and an increase in the number of PCs per household.
As we reflect on what’s driving this structural shift in PC demand and usage, we see three enduring trends: the rise in hybrid work and learning, shifts in entertainment habits and distribution models, and changing consumer habits for everyday tasks.
The rise of hybrid working and learning. The pandemic was a forcing function to accelerate the technology and organizational infrastructure to allow people to work and learn remotely. Looking ahead, many people who have had the option of working remotely want to continue and most educators believe remote learning will continue to play a role. We see these same trends reflected in how people are using Windows. In the last two years, Windows has seen a 6x increase in people using communication and collaboration apps like Cisco WebEx, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.
Shifts in entertainment habits and distribution models. The way content is produced, distributed, and consumed has changed dramatically – consider the fact that many blockbuster movies are being released in theaters and via streaming on the same day. Since the start of the pandemic, 70% more people streamed content across Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube on Windows, and monthly gaming minutes grew over 35%. There are now as many gamers as people who watch TV. More than ever people expect to be in control of what, when, and where they watch, play, stream and post – and increasingly it’s all happening on the PC.
Changing consumer habits for everyday tasks. Everyday tasks like grocery shopping, doctor’s appointments, going to the gym and even eating out have evolved with the rise of online ordering and delivery and virtual appointments and workouts. Telemedicine grew 3x and there was 500%+ growth in people seeking to Buy-Online-Pick-Up-In-Store vs. two years ago. In Windows, 2x as many people are using their PC to shop, spending 40% more time shopping. Even as we resume some daily errands in person, people show no signs of giving up the convenience of online tasks entirely.
The PC market saw its biggest growth in a decade with Windows outpacing the market
The PC market saw the biggest growth in a decade. Global PC shipments surpassed 340 million in 2021, and according to Canalys that growth is 27% more than 2019. Windows now powers over 1.4 billion monthly active devices with overall time spent on Windows up 10% over pre-pandemic levels. This quarter, Windows took share as through our customer insights research, we saw nearly 50% growth in people who plan to use their PC for creativity, gaming or for work. We continue to see people across organizations, schools, and homes recognize the benefits of a PC for every person.
To address ongoing supply challenges, for the launch of Windows 11 we mobilized an entire industry across silicon, OEMs, retailers, and other partners to ensure that as many people as possible who wanted a new PC at holiday could purchase one, including inventory for commercial and education customers to order.
Windows will continue to be the backbone for innovation, a destination for gaming, creativity, and exploration, and a gateway to the Metaverse.