India PC market ships 4.5 million units in 3Q21

The India traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) continued its growth momentum despite ongoing supply and logistical challenges. The traditional PC shipments witnessed a 30% year-over-year (YoY) growth in 3Q21 (Jul-Sep), marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth in India, according to new data from the International Data Corporation ’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. A total of 4.5 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, making it India’s biggest-ever single quarter. To put this in perspective, it is bigger than the total yearly consumer shipments in 2019, a year before the pandemic hit us. As a result, many brands also reported their biggest quarter of PC shipments.

Notebook PCs continue to dominate the overall category with more than 80% share. Enterprise and consumer demand helped the Notebook category to reach over 3 million units for the first time, and the desktop category also continued its upward momentum as it grew by 30.5% YoY in 3Q21.

The demand for consumer notebooks continued to be robust while vendors struggled to get enough supplies to cater to the existing demand. Despite these challenges, vendors were able to bill a total of 2.3 million consumer PCs, making it the biggest quarter for the consumer category in India. Etailers also managed to procure stock for upcoming flagship sales, with over 771 thousand shipments in 3Q21, also reported the biggest quarter ever for online.

The commercial segment too, saw healthy shipments growth of 47.6% YoY in 3Q21. Vendors had large backlog orders from enterprises and SMB clients from the last few quarters. With better allocation in September, they were able to fulfill a significant portion of these pending orders. Additionally, some of the long-due education projects started materializing, giving the education segment momentum.

Commenting on the ongoing supply situation Bharath Shenoy, Senior, Market Analyst, PC Devices, IDC India said, “Despite the better allocations to a few segments, the demand-supply gap continues to be a challenge as enterprises and SMBs continue to order in big volume.”

Shenoy further added, “As the top three vendors are struggling to fulfill the entire requirement, some of the orders are moving to smaller vendors, thereby helping them to improve their presence in the commercial segment.”

Top 5 Company Highlights: 3Q21

HP Inc. maintained its lead in the overall PC category as it reported the third consecutive quarter with over a million shipments in the country. It led both commercial and consumer segments with a 28.5% share in the overall PC category, while it maintained over 30% share in the commercial segment for the third straight quarter, its share fell to 25.3% in the consumer segment despite its consumer shipments growing 22.5% YoY in 3Q21.

Dell Technologies retained the second position with over 23.8% share in the overall PC category. The vendor had a consistent inflow of supplies during the quarter that helped it register its first quarter in India with over a million shipments. It also overtook Lenovo in the consumer segment to take second place with a share of 19.2% in 3Q21.

Lenovo maintained the third position with an overall share of 18.6% in 3Q21. Its shipments grew 19% YoY in the commercial segment on account of a strong performance in the SMB and enterprise segments. However, its consumer segment saw a marginal 3.4% YoY growth during the quarter.

Acer Group retained the fourth position with an 8.6% market share in 3Q21. Acer also recorded its biggest quarter as it shipped 381 thousand PCs in 3Q21. With a 31.5% share in the commercial desktop category, it recaptured its clear lead with its shipments at an impressive 55.7% annually.

ASUS retained the fifth position with a share of 8.5% in 3Q21. Asus also shipped over 300 thousand PCs for the first time in the country, which helped the brand to get a six percentage points sequential jump in its share in the consumer segment as it finished fourth in the respective segment

Commenting on the outlook for upcoming quarters, Jaipal Singh, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said, “After five straight quarters of annual growth, the consumer market is hinting demand softening as schools and colleges resume their physical classes. Brands have prioritized margins in last few quarters, however, to boost the penetration further, brands need to initiate new programs around affordability, awareness, and education to utilize the stimulus that pandemic has given to digital learning to plan their long-term growth.”

Singh further added, “Demand from enterprises and SMBs still look favorable to support the PC vendors in 2022 as key verticals continue to provide fresh orders. Additionally, vendors will target to materialize the long-pending education deals with improving supply situation in the country.”
CT Bureau