The Indian market for traditional PCs, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, declined by 11.7 per cent year-over-year (YoY) in Q32022 (July to September) after eight consecutive quarters of growth, according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

All segments declined except government, which grew by 91.5 per cent YoY as government orders materialised, leading to strong growth for the third consecutive quarter. While the desktop and workstation categories grew YoY by 23.4 per cent and 17.6 per cent, respectively, the notebook category declined by 19.5 per cent. The demand for notebooks has softened across segments, forcing vendors to clear inventory.  The consumer segment shipped 2.1 million units, with online sales helping lend momentum at the end of September. However, that was not sufficient to prevent a 10.9 per cent YoY decline. Similarly, the commercial segment was impacted due to a delay in enterprise orders as well as muted SME sentiment, leading to a YoY decline of 12.5 per cent.  While the demand for premium notebooks (above $1,000) declined sharply by 28.5 per cent YoY in the commercial segment, premium consumer notebooks grew by 9.8 per cent YoY. The strong performance by Apple and good traction for ASUS’ gaming notebooks were the key drivers.  “With schools and colleges opening, the consumer segment is seeing tapering demand for the past few months as remote learning has come to a standstill. Weakened currency is resulting in rising device costs and pricing pressure for vendors. As online sales were on, vendors delayed price increases in Q3, but the discounts weren’t as lucrative as in previous years either. Vendors are expected to increase prices in Q4, which might further dampen sentiment,” said Bharath Shenoy, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India. HP Inc shipped over 940,000 units and continued to lead the overall PC market with a share of 23.9 per cent in 3Q22. Its consumer share dipped to 22.1 per cent and commercial share dipped to 25.9 per cent as it focused on inventory corrections, but it continued to lead both segments. Lenovo overtook Dell for the second position with a strong showing in the consumer segment, where it continued to hold its second position with a share of 18.8 per cent thanks to online sales. In a quarter of softening SME procurement, Lenovo led the segment with a share of 32 per cent. Dell Technologies slipped to the third position as it lost momentum in the consumer segment after it decided to stay away from online sales. But it stood a close second behind HP in the commercial segment with a share of 25.3 per cent, where it continued to have good traction.