New Zealand’s PC market has recorded approximately 40 per cent growth due to increasing notebooks demand during lockdowns.

According to IDC, nearly 217,000 units were sold in the second quarter of this year. Shipments of commercial and consumer PC devices increase 61.5 per cent and 13 per cent year on year respectively. 

“The commercial market saw huge demand as businesses and students moved into working and learning from home due to lockdowns”, says Liam Landon, associate market analyst at IDC New Zealand. “The education market drove a large amount of growth, with the Ministry of Education distributing many notebooks to students”.

Notebooks sales experienced 61.3 per cent growth while desktops dropped 11 per cent year on year. 

“Notebooks saw most of the growth as businesses looked to make their fleets more mobile. This meant moving off desktop form factors where possible to allow employees the flexibility to work from the office or from home after lockdowns ended,” said Landon. 

IDC said the reason for the growth is that consumers look for notebooks over smartphones or tablets due to the increased productivity, particularly with the movement to online learning. The growth is expected to continue in the third quarter of the year and reach 9.7 per cent, according to IDC. 

PC monitor sales also accumulate as many people set up home offices for greater work flexibility. 

“The consumer market is expected to remain buoyant. However, the commercial market will see slowdowns, particularly within SMBs who are more sensitive to business uncertainty.”