HP leads India PC market in Q1

HP Inc topped India’s PC market by accounting for more than 1.4 million of the 4.3 million units shipped in Q1, according to IDC.

With an overall 33.8 percent PC market, it enjoyed its biggest ever consumer quarter with a share of 33.2 percent and a strong commercial quarter with 34.3 percent share.

Driving the growth are strong demand for commercial desktops, a clearance of big backlog orders, and continued demand for consumer notebooks.

Dell is next with 19.4 percent share, followed by Lenovo (17.6 percent), Acer (9.8 percent) and Asus (6.2 percent).

Overall, the India traditional PC market grew 37.7 percent in Q1. While the notebook category continued to be the volume driver with 3.1 million units, the desktop category saw more than a million units for the first time since Q3 of 2014.

“The consumer segment stayed positive as it witnessed an impressive 27.9 percent year-on-year growth. While e-tail channels experienced good traction, the relaxation of COVID-19 related restrictions led to a surge in retail footfall as an increased number of people started buying PCs from offline stores, thereby leading to a strong consumer quarter,” said Bharath Shenoy, Senior Market Analyst of PC Devices at IDC India.

“With schools and colleges opening up, vendors are likely to run back-to-school campaigns in Q2, which might extend consumer momentum. However, high inflation and rising device prices may dampen sentiment as consumers delay their purchases,” he added.

Looking ahead, Navkendar Singh, Research Director of Client Devices at IDC India noted that while the market continues to see momentum in both the consumer and commercial segments, channel inventory is getting back to pre-pandemic levels.

“With enterprises opening up and heavy recruiting happening across many sectors, the enterprise segment is expected to stay upbeat in coming quarters. Government and education procurement is also picking up, so the commercial segment might witness high single digit growth in 2022. However, high inflation is a matter of concern, primarily for SMEs and consumers,” he said.