The Indian traditional PC market, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations delivered a strong year with a record shipment of 14.8 million units, a growth of 44.5 per cent year-over-year (YoY) in 2021 (Jan-Dec), according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The notebook category was the volume driver with shipments reaching 11.6 million units. Further, a sharp recovery in the desktop category ,lso contributed to the growth. The category recovered with a 30 per cent YoY growth owing to strong demand from enterprises, SMB, and consumer segments.

The market was upbeat as the vendors collectively shipped more than four million PCs in Q4 2021 (Oct-Dec). 

“Remote working demand coupled with better supplies were the drivers for the market. The desktop category continued its upward trajectory driven by demand in the Education and VLE segments, shipping more than 800k units for the first time in eight quarters, Notebooks clocked over three million units for the second quarter in succession,” IDC said.

The commercial segment witnessed a sharp Yrowth of 81.4 per cent in Q4 2021 while the consumer segment witnessed a more subdued YoY growth as vendors focused on inventory correction following a very strong Q3 2021 (Jul-Sep).

“As schools and colleges continued to function remotely for a second consecutive year, the demand for a computing device became extremely important for students. Some of the students who were earlier using smartphones/tablets for their virtual classes opted for a PC for obvious benefits such as bigger screen and ease of usage” said Bharath Shenoy, Senior Market Analyst, PC Devices, IDC India.

He added, “The consumer segment witnessed strong growth despite facing supply disruptions across the year. While the incumbent brands managed to get better allocations and ship bigger volumes of PCs, new brands that entered the Indian market in the past few years struggled to get timely supplies thereby strained to fully capitalize on the market opportunity.”

Top five

HP Inc. continued to lead the overall PC market with a share of 31.5 per cent in CY2021, as its shipments grew by 58.7 per cent YoY. 

HP had its biggest quarter ever in Q4 2021, leading the market by shipping more than 1.3 million units. It had a leading share of 32.9 per cent and 30 per cent in the commercial and consumer segments in 2021 as they grew by 57.5 per cent and 60.1 per cent YoY respectively. 

“Strong demand coupled with consistent supplies helped the brand in managing substantial growth in both segments,” the report said.

Commenting on the report, Ketan Patel, MD, HP India Market said, “We sincerely thank our customers and partners for their trust in HP that helped us maintain our leadership in India’s PC market in 2021. We are also very pleased that we enabled business and learning continuity needs for our customers more than any other brand in India during the most critical time of pandemic. Today, PCs are essential for Work, Learn, Earn, Play and Entertainment needs and at HP we are focused on consistently innovating our portfolio to best serve evolving needs of our diverse customer base.”  “The PC industry is going through a supercycle owing to the robust growth driven primarily by hybrid work, digital education, gig workers and the gaming segment. With our focus on insights-driven innovation, we are confident that we will stay focused on providing the best offerings to our customers and elevate their computing experience even further,” said Patel. 

Consumer segment category

Dell Technologies took the second spot with a 23.6 per cent share and 47 per cent Yrowth in CY2021. With more than a million units for a second consecutive quarter, it was in the second position behind HP in Q4 2021 as well. 

While it was a close second to HP in the commercial segment with a share of 29.8 per cent in 2021, it managed to surpass Lenovo but was a distant second in the consumer segment. It also led the enterprise segment with a share of 38 per cent “driven by increased demand from Indian IT/ITES customers and its global accounts.”

Lenovo came in third behind Dell in Q4 2021 as well as CY2021 with a share of 17.4 per cent and 18.4 per cent respectively. While the vendor managed an “impressive” growth of 22.8 per cent YoY in 2021 across segments even as constrained supplies impacted its overall shipments. It, however, did perform well in SME segment, coming in second behind HP with a share of 24.7 per cent.

Lenovo was followed by Acer Group which retained the fourth position with an 8.2 per cent market share in CY2021 while it held a share of 7.7 per cent in Q4 2021. 

“As the desktop category made a comeback of sorts in 2021, Acer was one of the main beneficiaries due to its established commercial desktop business,” the report said.

It stood second in the commercial desktop category behind HP with a share of 25.8 per cent

ASUS maintained the fifth position with a share of 4.4 per cent in Q4 2021 and 5.9 per cent in CY2021 a The vendor made inroads in the commercial segment, growing a whopping 227.2 per cent YoY while managing a healthy growth in the consumer segment in 2021.

Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices, IDC India said, “The market witnessed unprecedented demand for PCs in last two years in both the commercial and consumer segments, but demand is expected to soften in 2022.”

“While digitalisation and remote working are expected to be primary drivers for the SME and enterprise segments, component shortages, supply challenges, and increased prices might continue to impact the government and education segments negatively, leading to further delays in projects. We may also witness some traction for the newer vendors in the consumer segment as supplies start improving in the second half of the year,” said Singh.

Published on February 23, 2022