Decline in consumer demand sees Australia's PC market drop

Australia's PC market declined by 19.1% year-on-year (YoY) in 1Q23 shipping 996 thousand units, according to new analysis from IDC.

The International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker shows this was due to the decline in consumer demand, growing inflation concerns, and excess inventory levels.

The consumer segment declined by 33.3% YoY because of a drop in consumer confidence and cautious spending. The commercial segment declined by a moderate 2.1% YoY. This can be attributed to businesses reassessing their spending budgets amidst the growing economic uncertainty.

"The macroeconomic environment is currently experiencing high levels of inflation, and increasing interest rates, which is impacting PC demand from both commercial and consumer segments," says Sharmishtha Bhatt, Lead Analyst PC Devices Research at IDC Australia."

Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end-users. OEM sales are counted under the company/brand under which they are sold.

Traditional PCs include desktops, notebooks, and workstations and do not include tablets or x86 servers.

Detachable tablets and slate tablets are part of the Personal Computing Device Tracker.

According to the report, HP Inc. remained the leader but had a challenging quarter with a 4.1% YoY decline in shipments. This was primarily due to the decline in demand from consumer, education, and small business segments.

Dell Technologies stood second with a 9.3% YoY decline and 21.8% share. In addition to the slowdown in consumer demand, the small and medium businesses and education segments were the most impacted for the vendor.

Lenovo's shipments declined by 30.5% YoY due to high inventory levels from previous quarters. The vendor has adopted an aggressive pricing strategy to clear out this inventory.

Apple ranked fourth with an 18.7% YoY decline. Shipments of M2 processor-based systems were lower because their pricing was less competitive compared to M1 processors.

Acer saw a 19.4% YoY decline, resulting in a market share of 9.6% in 1Q23. Despite the challenges, Acer adopted a strategy of competitive pricing which allowed it to maintain its ranking.

The report shows the Australia PC market is expected to decline by 14.4% YoY in 2023 due to the macroeconomic situation, inflation, and uncertainty in the market. 

The end-of-financial-year sales in June are expected to provide some relief for the 2Q23 market, but overall, the market is still likely to experience significant stress. Despite this outlook, there are some positive signs that suggest that the market may be able to recover in 2H23.