The year 2014 appears to be one of optimism for the New Zealand PC market.

According to the IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker, the Kiwi PC market posted 175,800 units during 1Q2014, representing a significant year over year rise of 22%.

Increased consumer spending, replacement of older PC’s that ran windows XP, and growth in the education sector drove this strong shipment growth.

“The annual rise of the PC market was witnessed in both the consumer and commercial segments," says Arunachalam Muthiah, market analyst, IDC.

"Consumers opened their wallets for PC purchases on the back of an improving economic scenario as consumer confidence trended upwards and unemployment rate experienced steady declines.

“The commercial segment observed refreshes in the enterprise, government, and education sectors, whilst major PC brands offered special discounts and incentives to channel partners to further aid growth.

"Increased demand for chromebooks from educational institutions also propelled shipments."

Overall, IDC anticipates the NZ PC market to undergo a 6% increase year over year in 2014 largely due to an expanding domestic economy.

However, beyond 2014 the market is expected to decline due to the competition from substitute devices including tablets and smartphones.

Vendor Highlights

HP continued to lead the New Zealand PC market in Q1 2014 by occupying 37% of the market. Acer came in second by obtaining around 18% and was followed by Apple at 13%.

The fourth and fifth places were occupied by Dell and Toshiba respectively.