After the big tech firms of Google, Meta and Microsoft, hardware players Dell and HP have announced layoffs. Dell said it will cut 6,650 jobs, or 5 per cent of its global workforce, as personal computer (PC) sales plunge.
While the India impact of the layoff is unclear, analysts said that PC sales in India will be challenging for global players.
“The story is on similar lines in India too. The PC market is witnessing a slowdown and is expected to be challenged in H1 2023. It will be challenging to find volumes like 2021-22 in the next few quarters, though it may stay higher than 2018-2019 volume," Bharath Shenoy, senior market analyst, PC Devices, IDC India, told 'Business Standard'.
PC sales boomed in the pandemic years when more consumers bought laptops for work-from-home and online classes.
"The PC market has been on the rise globally since 2020 due to WFH, Remote Learning and Refresh cycle demand. The normalisation of such high demand was expected at some point. With inflationary stress on incomes leading to demand tapering and possibility of recessions/ slowdown is leading to reduction or delay in purchases by corporates. Re-opening of offices and colleges has led to a dip in demand which was coming through remote working/learning,” said Shenoy.
The Indian PC market, which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations, declined 11.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q3 of calendar year 2022 (CY22) after eight consecutive quarters of growth despite strong shipments of 3.9 million units, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.
IDC is yet to come out with the Q4 CY22 PC shipment report for India. However, globally the preliminary data shows a fall in PC sales.
While the desktop and workstation categories grew 23.4 per cent and 17.6 per cent YoY respectively, the notebook segment declined 19.5 per cent. The demand for notebooks has softened across segments, forcing vendors to clear inventory.
Dell had the worst fall in the Indian market, slipping three positions as it lost momentum in the consumer segment after deciding to stay off online sales. Its market share in Q3 fell to 16 per cent, a drop of 40.5 per cent from the year-ago number of 23.8 per cent.
The situation was the same for market leader HP, which saw its share touch 23.9 per cent in Q3 CY22, a drop of 25.9 per cent YoY.
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