What was a grim picture for manufacturers and resellers as a result of preliminary findings of declining global PC shipments has now given way to positive news for the Australian PC industry.
According to research firm, International Data Corporation (IDC), the Australian PC market recovered from a negative first half of 2016 in third quarter of 2016, post-Dick Smith exit.
IDC’s Asia Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker found that PC shipments in Australia totalled 992,000 units in Q3 2016, a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 3.5 per cent, beating the forecast by roughly seven per cent. The majority of the growth was driven by the commercial segment, at six per cent YoY, while consumer segment witnessed a growth of one per cent YoY.
This is in comparison to the global preliminary research IDC report which predicted shipments of nearly 68 million during the quarter, citing a decline of 3.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.
IDC Australia client devices analyst, Sagar Raghavendra, said early inventory stocks for the holiday season and continued deployments in state education departments were reasons behind this growth.
“Seasonal impact seemed to have been minimal, as the market bounced back after a sluggish start in the first half of the year due to Dick Smith and Toshiba exiting from the market. Harvey Norman’s Modern PC program also seems to have contributed to this growth in the consumer segment”, he said.
The tracker also found that significant growth was observed in education, government and corporate sectors, while growth within the SMBs continued to decline.
Going into specifics, Raghavendra noted that the notebook and Desktop PC market grew alike by 3.2 per cent YoY, while the convertible form factor grew at 91 per cent YoY.
“Increasing numbers of corporate and public sector agencies are deploying convertibles in large numbers; there is a healthy competition in the market between convertibles and detachables,” he mentioned.
Breaking it down by business, IDC found that HP held the top position, with a market share of 28.1 per cent, followed by Lenovo and Dell at 18.8 per cent and 15.5 per cent respectively.
HP increased its market share to about 4.8 per cent greater than previous year, as it displayed strong performance both in commercial and consumer segment.
However, Apple lost about 5.3 per cent of its market share from previous year, to hold the market share at 12.8 per cent while Acer’s consistent performance in consumer segment saw it gain share of 1.5 per cent, ending at 10.8 per cent share.
The upward trend comes as Samsung reportedly engages in talks with Lenovo to sell its entire PC portfolio, with the vendor rumoured to be seeking an estimated $US850 million for the struggling business division.
