PC shipments in India including tablets grew by 72 per cent year on year in Q1 2021 to reach 4.0 million units, according to a report by Canalys.

Shipments included 517,000 desktops, 2.5 million notebooks, 930,000 tablets and 43,000 workstations.

“Almost all categories grew well, mainly due to a poor Q1 2020 when supply was hit due to pandemic restrictions in China,” the report said.

The growth was driven by notebooks including mobile workstations, as shipments grew 119 per cent Y-o-Y Q1 2020. Tablets also had one of their biggest quarters since 2016, with 52 per cent Y-o-Y growth. Desktop shipments fell 6 per cent to 517,000 units due to a fall in popularity for the form factor.

Notebooks had 63.1 per cent of the market share while tablets accounted for 23.0 per cent.

Top players

In terms of top players, HP overtook Lenovo to take first place, with shipments up 102 per cent year on year in Q1 2021. HP had a 25.3 per cent market share.

Lenovo fell to second place, gaining a 23.9 per cent market share, growing 63 per cent year on year in Q1 2021, much slower than the overall market.

“Lenovo has avoided competing over government tenders, primarily due to concerns of bias against it with respect to geopolitical tensions between India and China,” the report said.

“The company is focussed on ramping up its “Make in India” initiatives, primarily around tablets, to win back confidence from certain government entities,” it added.

Dell came third with a 13.2 per cent per cent market share, followed by Samsung with an 8.2 per cent market share and Apple at 5.2 per cent.

Also read:PC shipments register 73 per cent growth in Q1 2021: IDC

“Measuring true demand in India is extremely difficult,” said Canalys Research Analyst Ashweej Aithal.

According to the analyst, the second wave of Covid-19 has significantly impacted the market.

“For PCs, the entire channel has been paralysed, and despite healthy demand from consumers and businesses alike, fulfilling orders was the primary issue once again. Channel partners that have not been able to pivot to online sales have seen a huge portion of their business slip during the pandemic. In addition, OEMs prioritising fast-moving markets, such as the US and Western Europe, and diverting the bulk of their inventory to these markets, has further aggravated the situation. For most of this year and next, India will suffer from supply issues,” added Aithal.

The growing demand for PCs has also led to the entry of new vendors such as Nokia and Vaio, which launched new notebook models and plan to use their strong brand recognition to tempt customers. The market also witnessed significant growth in the gaming PC sub-category. Shipments of “gaming-capable” machines grew nearly 65 per cent Y-o-Y.

“India may soon become a major manufacturing hub for PCs, as the Indian government is planning to extend its Production-Linked Incentive scheme for smartphone manufacturing to the PC industry. The scheme is designed to target overseas players that invest ₹500 crore ($69 million) over a period of four years in Indian manufacturing facilities for laptops, tablets and servers to boost domestic exports and employment,” said Aithal.

“Manufacturers are expected to get incentives for laptops manufactured and priced above ₹30,000 ($400) and tablets priced above ₹15,000 ($200). Canalys expects most ODMs and OEMs to take advantage of this route, as the long-term outlook for India is still strong. While the commercial sector remains a key focus, PCs in education and for consumers are future hotspots,” Aithal added.

Published on June 10, 2021