The traditional PC market (Desktops, Notebooks, and Workstations) in the Asia/Pacific (including Japan and China) region posted a 15.9% year-over-year (YoY) increase in 2021, reaching 120.3M units. PC shipments are expected to remain robust in 2022, following a strong 2021 that experienced better supply and solid demand for PCs.
“The Asia/Pacific region benefited from significantly improved supply in the second half of 2021. With slowing demand in mature economies like the United States, PC vendors began to prioritize countries in Asia/Pacific, which led to much-needed backlog order fulfilments and inventory replenishments. Additionally, because of relatively slower vaccination rollouts in this region, some countries continued to be subject to strict lockdowns throughout 2021, and people had to work or participate in online classes from home. This perpetuated the overall demand for PCs within the region,” says Matthew Ong, Senior Market Analyst for Devices research at IDC Asia/Pacific.
Notebook shipments grew by 17.5% and reached 77.3M units in 2021, driven by continued strong demand for work-from-home and online learning needs as the general population in many countries continued to uphold safe distancing measures due to the uncertainties of the pandemic. Similarly, with better supply allocation to the region, desktops grew 11.8% YoY to 41.0M units.
2021 Top 5 PC Company Highlights:
Lenovo led the overall PC market in the Asia/Pacific region, with close to 30% market share and shipment growth of 12.5% YoY. As in the past, the vendor continued to dominate the PC market in PRC, where it gained market share in 2021. It also grew in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam at over 50% in each of these countries.
• HP Inc. maintained the second position, with a market share of 14.3% and a growth of 17.0% YoY. The vendor posted positive YoY growth in all product categories within the commercial and consumer markets. In India, one of the vendor’s key markets, HP Inc. grew 58.7%, which contributed to the growth of its market share in the region.
• Dell Technologies remained in third place with a YoY growth of 23.1%. Better supply management throughout the year led to the vendor’s success in capturing a larger share of the PC market in 2021.
• ASUS recorded the largest YoY growth among the top 5 vendors at 23.5%. This is largely due to an additional 1.3M notebooks in 2021 to the consumer market, with a larger proportion of shipments happening in the second half of the year as supply conditions improved.
• Acer Group grew by 22.3% YoY. The vendor enjoyed substantial growth within the consumer segment in Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Large education project involvements in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines also solidified the vendor’s top 5 position in the region.
Consumer shipments grew by 15.3% YoY in 2021, totalling 57.3M units. Strong shipments of Whitebox desktops in India, Indonesia, and Korea contributed to the positive 10.7% growth of consumer desktops. Consumer notebooks grew 16.6% YoY thanks to most countries in the region posting high growth figures generated from better supply allocation and continuous demand driven by e-learning and home entertainment. Branded gaming notebooks in the consumer segment leapt from 8.1M units in 2020 to 9.8M units in 2021, which is equivalent to a 20.3% rise.
The commercial PC market increased 16.4% in 2021, seeing growth in both public and private sectors. Private sector shipments were largely driven by increased notebook demand for flexible working arrangements amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, demand for desktops also improved, with a low double-digit YoY growth, as some companies returned to office and started purchasing desktops as before. Sizeable government projects in Australia and Malaysia, as well as education projects in India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, PRC, and Singapore, were rolled out throughout the year.
After very strong sell-in levels in 2021, PC shipments in Asia/Pacific in 2022 are expected to post a decline of -0.6%, with volumes forecasted to reach 119.7M units. The first half of the year is likely to see ongoing growth in multiple countries, as supply constraints ease and market players continue to replenish their inventory as well as fulfil backlog orders from previous quarters. However, the demand is likely to soften towards the second half of the year: with the vaccination rates increasing and countries opening up, consumers are expected to spend less on technology and more on other products and activities. Growth in the commercial space will also be subdued as it will be difficult for the industry to repeat the strong results from Q3 and Q4 2021. Still, the market is expected to remain above the pre-pandemic levels in the long term. “Ongoing demand from first-time buyers and requirements for studying and working from home is expected to continue to drive sales in the consumer space in the long run. In the commercial market, businesses will continue to purchase notebooks, as many companies are likely to adopt hybrid working models as a default, while they will also want to be prepared for another potential wave of the pandemic. We are also likely to see ongoing deployments in the education sector, with more schools purchasing devices for students,” said Maciek Gornicki, Senior Research Manager for Devices research at IDC Asia/Pacific. “The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about PCs – many of us now consider them as an essential productivity device. It also significantly accelerated IT transformations in organizations. The way consumers and businesses perceive technology has been altered forever, and this new mindset will continue to fuel demand for PCs in the long term,” added Gornicki.
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