Govt, education demand retains PC shipment levels in India in 2022, Apple enters top 5

Despite a global slowdown in personal computer (PC) shipments through 2022, and a further expected slowdown this year, shipments of desktops, laptops and workstation computers remained flat annually in 2022. According to a report published on Thursday by market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC) India, total PC shipments for 2022 grew by a marginal 0.3%, with 14.9 million units shipped through the year.

A slowdown in consumer electronics shipments in the December quarter saw PC shipments fall 28.5% year-over-year (YoY), in line with a near-30% drop in smartphone shipments as well. The shipment slowdown comes in line with a slowdown in global PC shipments, which too fell 28.5% YoY in the corresponding period, according to a January 12 report by Gartner.

However, the India market remained resilient in comparison to the global market, which, according to Gartner data, saw a 16.2% YoY shipment decline globally.

Demand for PCs from governments and educational firms and institutes largely constituted this demand in India, after consumer interest in the segment tapered off following two years of consistent growth due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s work from home (WFH) restrictions. While government demand increased 117.6% YoY, shipment of PCs to education firms increased 28.3% YoY. However, enterprise PC demand fell by nearly 6%, especially towards the end of 2022, as companies slowed down on device procurement due to saturation, as well as cutting down on discretionary expenses as inflationary concerns increased.

Interestingly, enterprise demand for Apple’s MacBook line of laptops saw the brand increase its shipments by nearly 11% YoY in 2022, after deals such as its enterprise device supply order from domestic information technology large-cap, Wipro, early last year. In August last year, market researcher Counterpoint said that Apple’s Mac shipments were expected to increase by nearly 50% YoY, amid increasing enterprise interest. According to IDC’s report, Apple ranked in the top five PC brands in the country for the first time in the December quarter, buoyed by the enterprise PC demand in the country.

“Apple is largely expected to be the sole outlier in the entire consumer electronics industry due to a fresh phase of demand among companies for its Mac lineup. However, the company may struggle to keep up its growth pace for consecutive years, given that it operates at a much higher price margin than other brands, and it would be difficult for the firm to get exponentially higher number of customers every successive year,” Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president, client devices at IDC India, told Mint on January 6.