PC shipments in India up 3.8%; HP leads with 30% share

Shipments of personal computers grew 3.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 14.4 million driven by demand for gaming and AI-powered PCs, market research firm IDC said on Monday.

IDC India, South Asia and ANZ, associate vice president for devices research, Navkendar Singh said the weakening rupee can lead to an increase in device costs, which can impact the price-sensitive SMB (small and medium businesses) and consumer segments but despite all challenges, the India PC market is most likely to witness a low single-digit growth in 2025.

The growth in the Indian consumer PC market has been on an upward trajectory, driven by gaming and AI-powered PCs.

HP led the market with 30.1 per cent market share in 2024 and 30 per cent share in the December quarter despite a decline of about 1 per cent in annual and 1.8 per cent in quarterly supplies, as per IDC estimates.

Lenovo and Dell followed HP with market share of 17.2 and 16.1 per cent in 2024 with year-on-year (YoY) growth of 7.3 per cent and 8.1 per cent, respectively, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker report.

"The traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) shipped 14.4 million units in 2024, up 3.8 per cent YoY.

"Breaking it down by category, shipments of notebooks and desktops grew 4.5 per cent YoY and 1.8 per cent YoY, respectively, while workstation shipments recorded the highest growth at 10.9 per cent," International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a statement.

The consumer segment in the Indian PC market is estimated to have grown 2.6 per cent YoY in 2024 and 2.2 per cent YoY in the December 2024 quarter, driven by the eTailer channel.

"The demand for gaming notebooks has been robust, with double-digit growth in FY24.

"Also, since mid-2024, shipments of AI-powered notebooks increased substantially as the demand for relatively lower-end AI PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra processors and AMD Ryzen AI processors have seen a steady increase," IDC India and South Asia, research manager Bharath Shenoy said.

Premium notebook shipments (priced over $1,000) grew 13.8 per cent YoY in 2024, the statement said.

The commercial segment grew 5.1 per cent YoY in FY24 and 11.1 per cent YoY in the December 2024 quarter.

The demand from global enterprises and government departments, including GeM (government e-marketplace), led to growth in the enterprise and government segments by 10.6 per cent YoY each in 2024, the statement said.

"The commercial PC market in India is on the upswing, driven by healthy refresh order books and momentum in public sector buying.

"The industry is expecting replacement demand to start coming in from this year, as 2020-21 purchases reach 3-4 years in age," Singh said.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the total market grew 6.9 per cent YoY, driven by a 9.6 per cent YoY growth in the notebook category.

Taiwanese PC maker Acer supplies recorded the highest annual growth of 27.7 per cent on YoY basis clocking market share of 15.1 per cent in 2024 while Asus topped the chart with the growth rate of 38.4 per cent in the December quarter.

Lenovo clocked 18.5 per cent share with 13.5 per cent increase in shipments during the October-December period.

Dell clocked 18.1 per cent share with 5.8 per cent growth and Acer market share stood at 15.7 per cent with 20 per cent growth in YoY supplies in December 2024 quarter.