Chip shortage hits new brands in tough Indian laptop market

When popular smartphone brands like Xiaomi and Realme entered the laptop market in India last year, they were expected to shake the existing giants, specifically under Rs 50,000 category. However, chip shortage and supply crunch have somewhat dented their plans to make a significant mark to date.

According to industry experts, the issue with smartphone makers entering the laptop category is two-fold. The first one is a massive supply crunch in the laptop component market and only big brands are able to get volume and supplies. The other factor is that the traditional players are very strong in the consumer laptop market. Top 3 players control more than 70 percent of the market and strong portfolio, distribution, and channel reach as well as brand marketing has helped them massively.

Dominated by HP Inc, Lenovo and Dell, the traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) in India continued to be robust as the shipments grew by 50.5 percent year-over-year (YOY) in the second quarter (Q2), according to IDC. Notebook PCS continue to hold more than three-fourth share in the overall category and grew 49.9 percent YOY in 2Q21, reporting a fourth consecutive quarter with over 2 million units. Desktops also indicated a recovery as shipments grew 52.3 percent YOY after recording the lowest shipments of the decade in 2Q20.

In the India PC market, HP maintained its lead with 33.6 percent share as its shipments grew 54.2 percent annually. Dell Technologies continued to hold the second position with a 22.1 percent share and an impressive 86.1 percent YOY growth in 2Q21. Lenovo maintained the third position with a share of 17.8 percent in 2Q21.