NZ traditional PC market returns to growth - for now

The New Zealand traditional PC market has seen a return to growth, experiencing a 1.1% year-on-year (YoY) growth in unit shipments in the second quarter of 2019.

According to new data from the latest IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, the growth follows a -8.1% YoY decline seen in the first quarter of 2019.

According to the report from IDC, the New Zealand PC market for 2019 Q2 saw shipments of both commercial and consumer PC devices grow by 0.3% YoY and 2% YoY respectively.

Liam Landon, associate market analyst at IDC New Zealand, says the consumer market outperformed expectations, with some aggressive channel loading by PC vendors.

"However, sell-out struggled with multiple public holidays in April leading to softer demand from consumers," Landon says.

"This caused a slight build-up of stock. On the other hand, the commercial market underperformed slightly. This was caused by declines in the private sector, with fewer refreshes due to economic slowdown and increasing business uncertainty," he explains.

"Despite weakness in the private sector, the public sector saw strong deployments towards the end of the government's fiscal year, driven by seasonality and Windows 10 migration projects, which supported the overall commercial market," says Landon.

Landon says a second consecutive quarter of growth in the desktop market, led by public demand for commercial desktop refreshes, brought the market to growth.

"However, despite strong shipments from convertibles, overall declines in commercial notebooks hindered the market's progression," he says.

"These declines were due to slow purchasing caused by the weak economic situation."

Despite the growth in 2019 Q2, Landon says IDC predicts New Zealand's traditional PC market will continue to decline in 2019, with a drop of -3.9% YoY expected in 2019 Q3.

"Despite expectations of continued buoyancy for desktops, there will be weakening shipments of commercial notebooks year on year," Landon explains.

"This is caused by strong sell-in during 2018H2 in expectation of constraints and will mean a decline in the market," he says.