Eight in a row as PC market decline grows

The Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) PC market declined 8% sequentially and 11% year-on-year in 2014 Q1 to reach 23.8 million units, coming in marginally lower than industry analyst IDC's initial forecasts.

Lenovo retained the top spot despite a sequential decline in many markets in the region including China, where the vendor, due to Chinese New Year festivities, did fewer commercial shipments than usual.

Dell retained the second spot and continued to be ahead of HP for a second consecutive quarter, as the latter was impacted in key markets like China and India.

ASUS replaced Acer at the fourth spot. China contributed the most to ASUS’ share gain in the region as the vendor had a healthy channel inventory and did well in the consumer space with attractive entry-level product lines.

According to IDC findings, elections in some of the bigger markets also contributed to the region’s overall decline.

“However, as these markets stabilise after the elections, IDC expects commercial activity to resume in the second half as a result of pent-up demand," adds Handoko Andi, Research Manager for Client Devices, IDC Asia/Pacific.

“On the consumer side, ongoing distractions from smartphones and tablets as well as cautious channel intake impacted most markets in the region, especially in South East Asia.”