PC shipment in India hits 5-yr high of 4.1 million units in Q2: Canalys

PC shipment in India hit a five-year high to about 4.1 million units in the June 2021 quarter, growing at 42.7 per cent year-on-year, according to research firm Canalys.

The 4.1 million shipments included over 2.4 million notebooks, about 5,15,000 desktops, more than 1 million tablets and 54,000 workstations, Canalys said in a report.

"Almost all categories grew by double-digit percentages year on year, mainly due to a lacklustre performance in Q2 2020, when the entire country was under lockdown, braving the first wave of COVID-19. Shipments of notebooks, the largest category by volume, grew 43 per cent over Q2 2020," it added.

Tablets also had one of the best quarters since 2016, with 52 per cent year-on-year shipment growth, while desktop shipments were up by 23 per cent, it added.

India's PC market topped 4.1 million units in the second quarter of 2021 for the first time since 2016, Canalys said.

About 2.87 million units were shipped in the June 2020 quarter.

The report said HP maintained its leadership position - with a 26 per cent market share - as its shipment grew 54 per cent year-on-year in the June 2021 quarter.

Lenovo and Dell followed in the tally with 20.5 per cent and 12.8 per cent market share in the said quarter.

"Samsung finished fourth, thanks to its strong tablet business. It grew shipments by a massive 134 per cent year on year. Samsung is uniquely positioned to benefit from the cost-conscious device procurement happening across India to support multiple government and educational institutions," the report said.

Canalys said it expects Samsung to benefit from the drive to remote learning and its connected tablets will be at the forefront of this seismic shift in education in India.

Samsung had a 9.8 per cent share of the PC shipment in the second quarter of 2021.

Acer finished fifth as the vendor topped Apple and grew its total shipments by an impressive 95 per cent year-on-year. Acer had an 8 per cent share.

"The market has finally returned to pre-COVID shipment levels. While desktops and notebooks haven't really seen a major bump in shipments, tablets are in much higher demand than before, resurrecting what was a dying category in India," Canalys Research Analyst Ashweej Aithal said.

Due credit for that should be given to remote learning, as well as the accelerated digital transformation of multiple industries and processes, Aithal added.

"As we look ahead to the second half of the year, Canalys is positive about the Indian PC market, as major government and educational tenders, which were put on hold due to the COVID-19 Delta variant wave, are now re-tendered, Aithal said.

He said compared to western markets, long-term demand in India remains low.

While COVID-19 has helped move the needle slightly when it comes to PC penetration, it has been unable to generate a lot of demand, as vast portions of the population still regard PCs as a luxury, not a must-have. Added to that, India also has some of the poorest broadband penetration rates in the world. While the long-term outlook for PCs in India is still positive, it is not going to outshine the US or Western Europe, he added.

In a separate statement, Samsung said the tablets category has seen renewed interest in "this era of the Next Normal and Samsung has emerged as the preferred choice of consumers with its portfolio of innovative products".

"Samsung's relentless focus on consumer innovations means it is the only full-range player in the tablets business in India, with products across the price spectrum. Samsung's tablets have done extremely well across mass (less than Rs 20,000), mid (Rs 20,000-40,000) as well as premium (over Rs 40,000) segments," it added.