PC market remains bullish in Brazil

he market for personal computers in Brazil remained bullish in 2021 with a significant increase in sales despite the difficulties the pandemic has presented to the sector, according to analyst firm IDC.

According to the research, the segment grew in the first three months of 2021 and the trend continued in the second and third quarters of the year. Approximately 2 million computers were sold in Q2 with 2.3 million shipments in Q3; IDC noted the figures are respectively 60.2% and 41.3% higher than in the same periods of 2020, which had already been considered a good year for the sector.

“In 2021, the PC market saw an impressive leap, even with the shortage of components, which has been inhibiting market growth and became an even more sensitive issue in the third quarter”, said Daniel Voltarelli, ICT market analyst at IDC Brazil.

In relation to the sales for the second quarter of 2021, 408,000 were desktops and 1.6 million were notebooks, respectively an increase of 56% and 60% in relation to the same period in 2020. While the corporate market purchased 760,000 units, retail sales reached 1.2 million. While business sales had a 109% increase on Q2 2020, retail sales were up by 40%.

The average price of desktops in Brazil was BRL 3.305 (USD 599), while notebooks were priced at BRL 4.314 (USD 780) on average. There was an increase of 13% and 4% in the price of laptops and desktops, respectively. The total revenue for the segment in April, May and June 2021 exceeded BRL 8 million (USD 1.4 billion), up 80% on the same period in 2020.

As for the third quarter, of the approximate total amount of PCs sold of 2.3 million, around 430,000 were desktops and 1.8 million were notebooks, up 34% and 43% in relation to Q3 2020. Businesses purchased 941,000 units while retail sales totaled 1.35 million, an increase of 108% and 15% in relation to the same period in the prior year.

According to IDC’s Voltarelli, the increase seen in the Brazilian PC market is due to factors such as the gradual recovery of the economy and consumers looking to update their computers and, mainly, increase the computer/user ratio at home. “A family of four, for example, which only had one computer, needed to buy another PC to accommodate their daily activities”, the analyst noted.

For the last quarter of 2021, IDC predicts the Brazilian PC market will still see growth, but there will be a slowdown in relation to previous quarters. “There is a global competition for components and manufacturers make choices daily about their supply logistics, and Brazil will not always be first in line,” Voltarelli noted.

Moreover, IDC noted Brazilian consumers have been looking for higher standard computers, since they are now relying more on their PCs and want machines with better memory, processors and video resources.

On the other hand, PC prices have seen an increase in 2021, due to factors such as high inflation and scarcity of components. According to IDC, desktops in Brazil had an average price of BRL 3.384 (USD 612) while notebooks cost BRL 4.475 (USD 810) between July and September 2021, up 13% and 15% on the same period in 2020.