Asia Pacific PC Shipments Fell 10% In 2013, IDC Says

PC shipments in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) fell by 10% in 2013 to 108 million units, marking the region’s first ever double digit decline in recent years, according to IDC.

While Lenovo retained its top spot with around 24.9% market share in the region, it still reported a decline in annual growth by 9.5%. HP was the only PC vendor to see growth, thanks to huge Indian government orders it received during the year.

Like elsewhere in the world, PC makers in Asia have been hurt by growing adoption of smartphones and tablets. According to mobile research firm Mediacells, India and China together will buy around half a billion smartphones in 2014.

“2014 is expected to remain another challenging year for the PC market, as competition will only grow among the devices,” said Handoko Andi of IDC Asia/Pacific.

“The year ended on a somber note for the PC market, as it declined for the second consecutive year. Distraction from competing devices, ongoing pessimism in the economy and exchange rate pressures were among the factors impacting the market this year,” Andi added in the statement.

As Alex Wilhelm of TechCrunch pointed out earlier this month, 2013 will remain a decidedly black eye on the PC market’s history.

Many first time users in the emerging markets of Asia are skipping PCs and are using their smartphones and tablets as their primary computing device. This makes it even tougher for PC makers in the region to expect any kind of rebound this year.

Gartner had said on January 9 that global PC shipments suffered the worst decline in history, primarily because of the shift to smartphones and tablets in emerging markets.