Asia Pacific PC market down in 2015, to remain in doldrums in 2016

PC shipments in Asia Pacific including Japan (APAC) totalled 107.6 million units in 2015, according to IDC's preliminary results. This accounted for a 7.7% year on year (YoY) decrease and a steeper contraction from the 5.7% YoY drop in 2014. In Q415, the market declined by 6.5% YoY, reaching 26.9 million units, in line with IDC's initial forecasts.

According to IDC Asia/Pacific, the large education projects in India and Thailand held up the APAC PC market but the shipments were significantly affected by China’s economic slowdown. The Chinese government’s anti-corruption initiatives and deceleration in the manufacturing, construction and mining sectors impacted commercial IT spending, the research firm notes. 

Affected by a depressed retail environment, Chinese consumers prioritised smartphones and paid less attention to new PC offerings in the market. In Indonesia, the market was also weak due to lower government IT spending and high inventory in the consumer channels throughout the year. Results in the region were also affected by significant contraction in Japan, which suffered from high inventories and the volatility of the yen.

“The low activity in consumer demand coupled with currency fluctuations have negatively impacted PC shipments in 2015. Many projects in the enterprise space have been postponed while SMEs remained cautious with their IT spending,” said Maciek Gornicki, Research Manager for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific.

“Year 2016 is expected to remain difficult for the industry, as the current gloomy economic outlook, with uncertainty in the financial markets in mainland China affecting multiple countries, will likely weigh on IT spending in the near future.” 

Lenovo retained the top spot in 2015 despite a drop in its home base in mainland China as it won large shares in India and Thailand’s education projects, while making significant headway in the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) consumer space. Dell remained in second place by maintaining high YoY shipments to the enterprise sector in 2015. HP came in third with higher YoY public sector shipments in PRC as well as from education project fulfillments in India and Thailand. ASUS overtook Acer to take fourth place from higher YoY shipments in the key mainland China and Indonesia consumer markets. It also reported higher education shipments to Taiwan and Thailand.