Asia-Pacific PC market still contracting, IDC says

Preliminary results by the IDC show the PC market in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) increased 8 per cent from last quarter and declined 5 per cent year-on-year in Q3 2014 to reach 26.6 million units, coming in higher than the IDC’s initial forecasts.

The region witnessed higher-than-expected shipments in the two biggest markets – China and India. In India, positive consumer sentiment after the elections resulted in high retail walk-ins, while vendors in China pushed volumes in spite of a poor sell-out. Asean was a mixed bag with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand experiencing double-digit annual declines, while other countries like Vietnam did well.

Handoko Andi, research manager for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia-Pacific, said that [Windows] XP migration helped boost commercial PC spending earlier this year. But in recent quarters, it has seen Microsoft add a lot to the entry-level segment by launching the Windows 8.1 with its Bing search programme. This programme has helped consumers buy licensed OS PCs in many countries in the region.

Lenovo retained the top spot, with high sequential double-digit growth in most of the markets in the region including China and India. In China, vendors pushed volumes whereas in India, healthy consumer demand added to its growth. Dell retained the second spot backed by strong entry-level growth in some key emerging markets like India and Vietnam. 

Asus was close on the heels of its Taiwanese rival Acer. Vendors had good runs in markets like the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan due to their entry-level notebooks.