Indian PC market grows by 44.5% in 2021 due to remote working & learning: IDC

The Indian Personal Computer (PC) market, which comprises desktops, notebooks, and workstations, witnessed a recurrent growth in shipments last year driven by accelerated buying for remote work and learning. As per International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, the PC market in India saw a 44.5% year-over-year (YoY)  growth in 2021 (January-December) at 14.8 million units.

The notebook category accounted for a major chunk of the overall shipments as it witnessed 11.6 million units in the total sales last year. Furthermore, desktop sales also saw a 30% growth in sales largely due to robust demand from enterprises, Small and Medium Business (SMBs), and consumer segments.

“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.

Interestingly, the global PC industry’s revenues crossed $250 billion in 2021 against $220 billion in 2020, up by 15 per cent year-on-year (YoY), as per Canalys. The same report also claimed that notebooks and mobile workstations categories continued to lead the charge, with shipments of these devices growing 16% in 2021 to reach 275 million units.  

Also read: Notebooks push India PC shipments up 30%: IDC 

Meanwhile, IDC also mentioned that during Q4CY21, PC vendors collectively shipped more than four million units with notebooks accounting for 75% of the sales pie at three million units. However, the desktop category continued its upward trajectory driven by demand in the Education and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) segments, thus shipping more than 8 lakh units for the first time in eight quarters, as per IDC.   

IDC also maintained that the commercial segment posted a sharp YoY growth of 81.4% in Q4CY21 while the consumer segment witnessed a more subdued YoY growth as vendors focused on inventory correction following a very strong Q3CY21 (July-September).  

“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 capitalise on the market opportunity,” Shenoy further added.   

In terms of marketshares, HP Inc. continued to lead the overall PC market in India with a share of 31.5% as its shipments grew by 58.7% YoY in CY2021. Dell Technologies secured the second position with 23.6% share and 47% YoY growth in CY2021. Lenovo continued to hold its third position in 4Q21 as well as CY2021 with a share of 17.4% and 18.4% respectively. While Acer Group retained the fourth position with an 8.2% market share in CY2021 while it held a share of 7.7% in 4Q21, ASUS maintained the fifth position with a share of 4.4% in 4Q21 and 5.9% in CY2021 as it grew by 36.1% YoY in 2021.  

For the year 2022, IDC expects the demand for PCs softening due to supply constraints and increased pricing.   

“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,” maintains Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices, IDC India.