The shipments of PCs — comprising desktops, notebooks and workstations — jumped 73.1 per cent year-on-year in the January-March quarter, according to International Data Corporation.
A total of 3.1 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, the highest ever first-quarter shipments in a calender year to India.
Jaipal Singh of IDC India said, “PC vendors are staring at uncertainty for the next few months, with new lockdowns impacting consumer sales, delaying government projects and limiting supplies into the country.”
He said the present Covid situation has also affected the field teams of vendors.
Vendors will also use the time to plan their inventory for the coming quarters as there will be a surge in demand when the situation returns to normal, said Singh, associate research manager, client devices, IDC India.
Notebooks — which have a three-fourth share of the PC market — reported the highest growth at 116.7 per cent in the first quarter of the calender year.
The desktop category remained steady and showed initial signs of recovery. PCs witnessed an increase in demand as enterprises, SMBs, and consumers continued their purchases.
However, availability has been inconsistent over the past few quarters even as demand continued to outstrip supply. Besides, the lower than usual shipments in the first quarter of 2020 calender year has made the data for the current year favourable because of the base effect.
“Many companies remained fully remote or had adopted a hybrid working model to manage the growing concerns of the pandemic within the country. As cases continued to rise, a few large enterprises procured PCs in bulk to manage their workforces, adopting these new working models for the long haul,” said Bharath Shenoy , market analyst, PC devices, IDC India.
He said the demand for virtual learning was still strong, alongside a stronger demand for affordable PCs. This is evident from the recovery of desktops in the consumer segment, which grew 49.5 per cent despite the growing trend of notebooks replacing desktops.