The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business
Middle East and Africa (MEA) PC market suffered a 28.7 percent year-on-year slump in shipments in the final quarter of 2015,
according to the latest insights from global technology research and consulting firm International Data Corporation (IDC). Shipments fell for the third consecutive quarter in Q4 2015, with the decline representing the steepest ever recorded in the region for a single quarter.
In a shift from earlier quarters in the year when the decline in desktop shipments was notably less pronounced than the decline in notebooks, this time round both product categories declined at a similar pace. Indeed, IDC’s Quarterly PC Tracker shows that desktop shipments declined 29.4 percent year on year in Q4 2015 to total 1.3 million units, with notebook shipments falling 28.2 percent over the same period to total 1.9 million units.
“Similar to the previous quarter, Turkey, the ‘Rest of the Middle East’ grouping (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Palestine), Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan experienced the sharpest declines within MEA,” says FouadCharakla, senior research manager for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. “The reasons for these declines varied from country to country, but included high levels political and economic instability and uncertainty, low oil prices, increasing security concerns, and volatile currency fluctuations, especially with the US dollar becoming more expensive.”
Once again, the top three vendors remained unchanged in Q4 2015. The continued focus of these vendors on the commercial segment has contributed significantly to their ability to remain at the top of the rankings, since they combined to serve almost 70 percent of the region’s commercial
PC demand during the quarter.
Overall, HP maintained the top spot in terms of market share, despite experiencing a fall of 27.4 percent year on year, while second-placed Lenovo suffered a decline of 29.9
percent on shipments.