EMEA PC Market Remains Positive in 2Q21

The Europe, Middle East, and Africa traditional PC market saw growth of 6.5% in 2Q21, according to IDC. A total of 22.2 million units were shipped, the report states. Unfavorable growth rates versus 2Q20, the first full quarter propelled by COVID demand, makes second quarter of 2021 appear slightly weaker than other COVID-hit quarters, despite strong unit shipments overall.

The Western European PC market posted growth of 6.5%. Desktops grew by 6.2%, their recovery attributed to continued demand for gaming devices during lockdowns, for consumers looking to entertain themselves and socialize online with friends. Notebook growth (+6.6%) has slowed down, after four consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. Similar to PC shipments for overall EMEA, Western European notebook shipments are in line with recent quarters, but the large growth rates of last year make for unfavorable comparisons.

"The supply issues concerning a range of crucial components continue to limit shipments in the Western European market," said Simon Thomas, research analyst for IDC Western European Personal Computing Devices. "This, combined with partial relaxing of lockdowns and a return to seasonality, has slowed the rapid growth seen in recent quarters.

Consumer growth in Western Europe softened from last quarter, posting a rise of 18.6% YoY, with 6.3 million units shipped. Despite quarter-on-quarter declines, both desktops and notebooks enjoyed double-digit growth compared with last year (+36.1% and +15.5% respectively). This is due to prioritization of fulfillment of demand from consumer channels, as there is higher flexibility in adoption of PCs of varied specifications as opposed to commercial segments. In the Western European commercial market, there was a decline of -0.8%. The desktop fall of -7.3% was its fifth consecutive quarter of decline, and was not offset by notebooks, which posted flattish growth of 0.7%. A recovery in desktops is expected in the second half of 2021, as businesses equip more employees who are returning to the office for longer periods of time.

Overall PC shipments in CEE and MEA were inhibited by the supply issues and by ongoing component shortages, with both regions reporting single-digit increases of 5.6% and 7.7% respectively. "In the CEE region, the commercial segment reported a decline of -1.8%. Some of the education deals could not be fulfilled due to availability issues, and they are expected to be shipped later in the year. The consumer sector remained relatively strong at 11.1% growth. Inventory in a few countries is improving but is still below the comfortable zone. However, the MEA region reported positive commercial results at 16.1% and consumer remained flat," said Nikolina Jurisic, associate research director, IDC Europe.

The consolidation of the traditional PC market slowed again, as the top 5 vendors' share decreased. The top 5 players accounted for 80.4% of total market volume, falling slightly from 80.5% in the previous quarter. Lenovo regained first position, with a market share of 25.8% (+0.2% points). The vendor saw overall growth of 5.5%, due to a positive performance in both segments.

HP fell to second position, with a market share of 24.3% (-4.3% points). Despite growth on the consumer side (+2.4%), a commercial decline (-17.4%) due to component supply issues resulted in HP posting a decline of -11.2% overall. Dell kept third position, with a market share of 13.5% (+0.4% points) and growth of 8%. A good commercial performance (+16.4%) offset a slump on the consumer side, where it declined by -36.3%.

Acer maintained fourth place, with a market share of 9.6% (+1.5% points). Another solid performance in the consumer market (+23.1%) resulted in the vendor posting 23.9% growth overall. ASUS retained fifth position, with a market share of 7.4% (+0.2% points). Its 6.8% rise can be attributed to consumer growth of 9%.