5.8 mn PC shipments in Q1 2022, commands 48% on-year rise: Canalys report

Breaking the previous record of 5.3 million personal computers in a quarter (Q3 2021), the Indian PC industry shipped 5.8 million units in Q1 2022 alone. It was a 48 per cent increase in the same quarter as compared to last year, says technology analysis firm Canalys.

And despite sustained pressure on the global supply chain, shipments have grown by 44 per cent on an average in the last six quarters.

Of this, notebooks are the largest category with 3.4 million units followed by desktops at 8,88,000 units. Tablets emerged as the strongest category, due to government orders, with shipments touching 1.6 million units.

Highlighting the two main reasons for India’s phenomenal performance, Jash Shah, Research Analyst at Canalys said, “Firstly, India’s success at managing COVID-19, despite its huge population, has to be recognised. While most of the world was in lockdown, India remaining open for business as usual to a large degree. This helped the economy resurge, creating additional demand for PCs and other IT infrastructure. Secondly, India is slowly but surely inching toward self-reliance in PC production. 18 per cent of all PCs sold in India are now manufactured locally, implying that India’s vulnerability to black swan events in China is diminishing, and that its own appetite for PC consumption is increasing. While global macroeconomic events are raising multiple concerns over the sustainability of this growth, India will stay strong for the coming few quarters, despite the softness expected in other global markets.”

HP continued to be at the top with a 25 per cent share of the total market. It grew its shipment by 42 per cent to 1.5 million units. HP took pole position with ease in Q1 2022, commanding a 25 per cent share of the total market and growing its PC shipments by an impressive 42 per cent to 1.5 million units. HP has historically dominated the commercial PC market (desktops, notebooks, workstations and tablets), averaging 32 per cent market share over the last four quarters.

In addition, as per the report, HP is focusing on local manufacturing initiatives. Lenovo comes in the second spot and accounted for 19 per cent of the total PC market with 1.1 million units shipped. The shipments for Lenovo grew 29 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to surpass the 1 million mark for the third quarter in a row.

Overthrowing Dell, Acer rose to the third position by shipping 6,00,000 units for the first time and close to 11 per cent market share. Dell’s shipment amounted to 580,000 in Q1 2022, accounting for 10 per cent of the total PC market and up by 9 per cent YoY. Samsung, which was predominantly a tablet vendor, re-entered the Indian PC market only earlier this year. It is in the fifth position with 4,33,000 units shipped.

While the last few quarters have been good for the Indian PC industry, Canalys pointed out that the industry still has to exercise caution going forward. With rising inflation, consumers are likely to stop making discretionary purchases and even companies are likely to freeze budgets, stop hiring and cut spending. All this could have a ripple effect on IT procurement, and thereby PC demand as well, the report argued.