HP India said that it has seen high growth in its consumer PC business compared to the previous year. This resulted because people are required to use PC devices for supporting their work and study from home efforts in this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking to the Press Trust of India (PTI), Vickram Bedi, HP India Market Senior Director (Personal Systems) said the company had seen a high demand coming from the enterprises transforming the functions of their staff to work from home.
In the first two phases of lockdown, the electronics companies felt difficulties since there were restrictions for their online and offline sales as the government attempted to control the spread of COVID-19. Some activities were allowed for certain locations in the country from the third phase of lockdown.
“There is a surge in demand right now. From a year-on-year standpoint, it is much stronger growth. So we have this positive growth compared to last year, same time…I think our ASPs (average selling prices) is looking stronger than they were before because they (consumers) obviously understand how critical devices are to be able to operate in this environment…people are opting for the mid to high devices,” he said.
According to International Data Corporation, the demand for traditional PC (desktops, notebooks, and workstations) in India decreased by 16.7 percent year-over-year in the March quarter of 2020 to 1.8 million units. HP led the market with a 28.2% share, followed by Dell Technologies with 25.9% and Lenovo with 20%.
Bedi said that there is good demand for PC vertical segments like gaming and thin-and-light. Consumers are also looking for other gadgets for supporting their work, study and entertainment requirements, rather than PC.
He said the company is also extending its product portfolio to take advantage of this increase in demand. There is a large number of people working from home and required fast and secure internet connectivity. So, the 4G LTE connectivity, which was previously available only with HP’s premium notebooks like HP Elite Dragonfly and HP Spectre X360 will be available in the new notebook line-up.
