Aussie PC shipments hit 1M amid pandemic

The Australian PC market has shown considerable resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic with shipments hitting the 1 million device mark in the first quarter of 2020, according to new research from IDC.

Local desktop, notebook and workstation shipments grew by 5.2 percent to a total of 1.039M units.

IDC said the market was driven by growth in commercial and consumer segments, with commercial posting a 5.4 percent increase and consumer with a 4.9 percent increase year on year.

The research firm said shipments for desktops were boosted by PC refreshes related to Windows 10 migration at the beginning of the year, but dropped off towards the end of quarter due to supply issues and curbed demand due to COVID-19 related lockdowns.

However, demand for notebooks surged towards the end of the quarter, posting an increase of 5.5 percent year on year. This brought total shipments to 744,000.

“We expect increased demand for notebooks to continue well into the second quarter of the year, with lockdowns continuing, more people working from home, and migration to online learning,” said IDC Australia’s associate market analyst for PC devices Reynard Lowell.

“Notebooks will continue to take share from desktops, especially in the commercial segment, as more people are working from home,” he said.

“This may result in declining desktop shares in the future, as new refreshes will likely be on the same form factor. Furthermore, businesses may realise that notebooks can be as powerful as desktops, with the added benefit of portability, which may be preferable in a post pandemic era, where more companies adopt a more flexible remote work culture.”

Despite the positive result in Q1, and expected year on year increase of 2.9 percent in Q2, IDC said the PC Market would decline overall this year.

“The boost in purchases during the first half of the year will likely result in a softer second half, as demand is being brought forward. Challenging times lay ahead with a series of potential economic repercussions. Stimulus winding down, delayed corporate expenditure, and unemployment will negatively impact the market.”, Lowell added.