India’s PC shipments drop below 5 million for the first time in four quarters: report

At 2.6 million units, laptops accounted for less than half of PC shipments, but grew just 2% YoY as demand in the consumer segment weakened as schools reopened. Tablet shipments also rose a modest 9% year over year to 1.1 million units. By comparison, desktop shipments rose an unprecedented 70% year over year, topping 900,000 units in the quarter, according to the report.

The sharp slump in the consumer market ended seven consecutive quarters of record growth, noted Canalys analyst Ashweej Aithal.

Aithal said laptops accounted for 61% of the market in the June quarter of last year. This year, however, it has plummeted to 48%. “Slower demand for tablets and notebooks contributed to the decline in the consumer market, with shipments of the two categories down 23% and 11%, respectively,” he added.

Meanwhile, the commercial segment grew 50% year over year and now accounts for 52% of the total PC market. Aithal attributes this to the expansion of local manufacturing by PC vendors to qualify for government contracts for PCs.

For example, HP has expanded local notebook manufacturing, which has helped win contracts from the public sector. Similarly, Acer has partnered with contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies, and Lenovo is strengthening local supply of tablets and notebooks with its third production line, Aithal pointed out.

In terms of market share, HP was the leading PC vendor with a 25% market share based on 1.1 million units shipped. Analysts credit HP’s continued dominance to its “aggressive expansion of retail stores” across the country.

Lenovo was again the second largest player with a 21.1% market share and 973,000 units shipped. Dell, Acer and Samsung were the other three leading brands in the top five with 11.5%, 11.3% and 5.8% market share, respectively.

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