Middle East & Africa Personal Computing Devices Market Posts Strong Growth, with Demand from Both Home & Commercial End Users Remaining High

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) personal computing devices (PCD) market, which is made up of desktops, notebooks, workstations, and tablets, recorded strong growth in the final quarter of 2020, according to the latest industry analysis conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC).

The global technology research and consulting firm’s newly updated Worldwide Quarterly PCD Tracker shows that shipments across the region were up 7.9% year on year to 6 million units, making Q4 2020 one of the best-performing quarters of the last few years.

“Demand for personal computing devices remained strong across the MEA region, with end users still requiring these devices to work remotely or study from home,” says Fouad Charakla, IDC’s senior research manager for client devices in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa. “Turkey, which is by far the region’s largest single PCD market, experienced the biggest growth year on year, almost doubling in shipments. The market’s recovery from the slowdown in consumer demand seen in Q4 2019 was the primary driver of this growth in Turkey. A massive education deal totaling more than 150,000 tablets was also delivered into the country, which further accelerated the market’s growth.

“Each of the region’s other large markets, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE, all experienced year-on-year growth as well, with strong demand witnessed in both the commercial and consumer segments. On the flip side, sharp declines were recorded in Egypt and Kenya, primarily because these markets had witnessed massive education deals in Q4 2019 that were not repeated in Q4 2020.”

In the PC segment, Lenovo posted strong year-on-year growth, pushing it to the top of the MEA PC market for the first time ever. At the same time, HP experienced a sharp decline, coming in second. Dell remained almost flat year on year to remain in third place.

In the tablet space, Samsung remained in top spot, once again backed by a large-scale education delivery, this time in Turkey. Lenovo more than doubled its tablet shipments to place second, while Huawei also experienced growth to rank third.