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Lenovo has placed ahead of HP, Dell Technologies, Asus and Acer in a PC market preparing for “challenging times ahead” across Asia Pacific.
According to IDC findings, Lenovo reported 30.2 per cent market share and shipment growth of 6.1 per cent in 2019, chiefly benefiting from large deployments within education - driven by the ELCOT tender in India which resulted in an order of more than 1.5 million laptops - and strong demand in the private sector due to Windows 10 migration demand.
Next up is HP with market share of 14.9 per cent and a growth in shipments of 10.1 per cent. Amid an ownership battle with industry rival Xerox, the vendor "performed well" in the private sector with growth driven by Windows renewal projects, primarily in Japan and Korea. Meanwhile, HP’s education shipments were boosted by projects in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Slightly behind with a market share of 14.1 per cent - and shipment growth of 7.8 per cent - is Dell Technologies, fresh from posting an increase across all commercial segments during the past 12 months, in all countries except China, Thailand and the Philippines. Despite this, and according to IDC, the technology giant witnessed a decline in the consumer segment, particularly in India.
Meanwhile, Asus recorded a "mild decline" of -1.4 per cent, due to weaker performance in the consumer segment in China, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Rounding out the top five leading PC vendors in Asia Pacific is Acer, despite shipments declining by -2.9 per cent. Acer recorded a slight growth in the consumer market, supported by increases in ultra-slim and gaming notebooks, and strong results in ASEAN.
Credit: IDC More broadly speaking, the traditional PC market - spanning desktops, notebooks and workstations - expanded by 3.8 per cent, representing a total of 103.3 million units across the region in 2019.
As explained by IDC, the market was driven by growth in the commercial segment, which reached 57.9 million units amid a 7.5 per cent increase.
Shipments were primarily boosted by PC refreshes related to Windows 10 migration, which drove demand in both public and private sectors. For example in Japan, the commercial market recorded a 59.7 per cent increase, supported predominantly by Windows 10 renewals.
“With Windows 7 end of support looming, many businesses migrated to Windows 10 and refreshed their old devices at the same time last year,” said Jennifer Kwan, market analyst at IDC. “While this was primarily in Japan, refreshes were driving demand in other Asia Pacific countries too, bringing growth to the overall commercial PC segment in the region.”
Kwan said several large deployments in education supported the public sector, such as the ELCOT tender in India and education projects in Indonesia. On the other hand, the commercial market in China remained soft, "tarnished by ongoing US-China trade tensions and a drop in projects in the public sector".
In 2020, IDC forecasts "challenging times ahead" with Windows renewals winding down and Covid-19 already impacting the market. As a result, the PC market is expected to decline by -14.0 per cent during the next 12 months.
With most factories closed throughout February, and manufacturers not being able to ship products out of China due to logistics issues, Kwan stated that an impact on supply was "inevitable".
"Many countries directly impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, such as China, Korea and Singapore, are expected to see a dip in consumer demand given the limited retail traffic," Kwan added. "Consumer shipments are forecasted to decline by -6.7 per cent across Asia Pacific and Japan in 2020.
"Commercial renewals related to Windows 10 migration are also expected to wind down, particularly in Japan, bringing the commercial Asia Pacific and Japan PC market to a -19.7 per cent decline in 2020."
Consumer metrics
Delving deeper, in the consumer market, shipments declined by 0.6 per cent in 2019, bringing total volumes to 45.3 million units. Desktop shipments contracted by 11.3 per cent amid an ongoing drop in demand, as many consumers continued to switch to portable devices.
According to IDC, one of the big winners in the consumer PC market in 2019 was AMD. Due to an increase in the number of offerings with Ryzen processors, backed by Intel's ongoing supply shortages, AMD increased share in the consumer market from 11.4 per cent in 2018 to 17.4 per cent in 2019, with AMD-based PC shipments growing by 52.4 per cent.
"It was a big year for AMD in the PC space," observed Maciek Gornicki, senior research manager at IDC. "Not only have they managed to significantly increase the number of wins with multiple vendors thanks to their extremely successful Ryzen product portfolio, but they also gained ground in countries like Korea and Vietnam, where they had almost no presence at all in the past.
"AMD is also winning new designs with vendors that did not carry their processors previously, such as Microsoft, Xiaomi, and LG Electronics. Although Intel supply constraints might have made things easier for AMD, they are also winning thanks to an impressive product offering, and they will not sit back – I would expect them to continue this good performance in the coming year."
