PC shipments to Philippines hit record high

MANILA, Philippines — Shipments of personal computers (PCs) to the Philippines hit a record 2.85 million units last year, driven by demand for devices for work-from-home and online learning, research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) said.

For this year until 2025, IDC expects Philippine PC shipments to remain above the two million level annually, but lower than last year.

In a briefing yesterday, IDC senior research manager Maciek Gornicki said PC shipments to the Philippines reached a record 2.85 million units last year as the country was among the markets that benefited from the partial component supply recovery in the information technology sector and demand saturation in the consumer and education market in the US that freed more supply.

In 2020, total PC shipments to the Philippines reached 2.28 million units.

Gornicki said PC shipments to the consumer segment in the Philippines posted the strongest growth last year, as pent-up demand was fulfilled for online learning, WFH and entertainment.

Also posting growth was the enterprise segment as firms in the private sector transitioned to using notebooks and laptops, and online learning drove further adoption of devices in schools.

Gornicki said among PC brands, Acer Philippines continued to lead the Philippine market for the 13th consecutive year, accounting for a 27 percent share last year.

He said the company has continued to top the Philippine PC market given its multiple products across market segments, value for money offerings, and strong brand positioning.

“The PC has become a necessity during the pandemic. While the demand was strong beyond our expectations, due to online learning and WFH needs, including notebook PCs, Chromebooks, monitors and others, we did our best to fulfill them,” Acer Philippines general manager Sue Ong-Lim said.

IDC expects demand for PCs to continue with shipments to the country seen to reach over two million units per year this year until 2025.

In particular, Philippine PC shipments are projected to reach 2.69 million units this year, 2.34 million units next year, 2.37 million units in 2024, and 2.44 million units in 2025.

“PC demand in the Philippines is expected to remain robust. However there are a number of positive, as well negative factors that will continue to influence the market,” Gornicki said.

He said the opening of the economy with the increasing vaccination rate would likely divert spending to other areas such as traveling or dining out, which many people were not able to do for a long time due to the pandemic.

“Also, significant demand seen during the recent pandemic is not sustainable in the long term. Many end users and companies have already purchased and deployed devices for WFH and online learning and any future purchases are expected to be smaller than the big wave we have seen in 2021,” he said.

On a positive note, he said the uncertainty about the pandemic means schools and consumers will want to be ready in case another lockdown would be imposed and this should speed up the ongoing transition to notebooks and purchases for first time buyers.

He said digitization and growth in e-commerce are likewise expected to drive more spending from the private sector as companies go digital.

“Finally, low penetration rates will have a positive impact on future demand from first time buyers who now perceive PC as a must have productivity device,” he said.