For the 13th consecutive year, Acer led the PC (desktop, notebook and workstation) market in the Philippines in 2021 with a 27% market share on the strength of stay-at-home demand for devices to be used for education and work, said IDC.
Acer has led the notebook category in the Philippines for 16 consecutive years, with a record-high 33% market share in 2021. It had a 30% market share in consumer notebooks and a 34% market share in gaming notebooks.
In the consumer branded desktop category, Acer had a 31% market share in 2021 as it dominated the consumer all-in-one desktop category with a 52% market share. In the monitors category, it had a 22% market share for 2021.
In terms of PCs shipped by the end of 2021, Acer Philippines sold 561,000 units last year from 394,000 in 2020 and 347,000 in 2019. This strong performance was driven by online learning as Filipinos turned to Acer, the tech giant known for its strong position in the education sector. Other factors that drove growth were the increased need for devices as more Filipinos worked from home and Acer’s multiple product offerings across all market segments and the brand’s value for money proposition.
Some 1.72 million PCs from different brands were sold in the Philippines in 2021 from 1.35 million in 2020 and 1.34 million in 2019, said IDC. Globally, PCs were in high demand with 350 million units shipped worldwide.
The IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, Q4 2021 also showed that work from home and digitization drove demand in the private sector. The share of notebooks in the consumer market went up from 73% before the pandemic to 84% in 2021. For the commercial market, the notebook share went up from 30% in 2018 to 69% in 2021.
Pandemic-related quarantines and lockdowns also drove the growth in gaming- and entertainment-related PC sales in the Philippines in 2021. For Acer, sales of gaming notebooks nearly doubled with 113,000 units sold last year from 75,000 in 2020 and 38,000 in 2019.
The shortage of semiconductors across the globe has resulted in supply issues for everything from computers. According to Acer, the shortage would continue until at least the second quarter of 2022.
“The PC has become a necessity during the pandemic. While the demand was strong beyond our expectations, due to online learning and work-from-home needs, including notebook PCs, Chromebooks, monitors and others, we did our best to fulfill them,” said Sue Ong-Lim, Acer Philippines General Manager.
Last year, Acer also stepped up its sustainability efforts by introducing the Earthion program, through which the tech giant engages its entire ecosystem from supply chain partners to consumers and employees by helping tackle environmental challenges through innovative and integrated solutions.
Since 2020, Acer’s notebooks have adopted recycled paper for packaging, and this has saved 8,750 kg of paper pulp and cut down on the usage of 20 million plastic bags. From Acer’s internal recycling activities, over 50 metric tons of batteries were recycled and remanufactured into new ones.
In 2021, Acer announced a new “enviro-friendly” laptop, the Acer Vero, containing 50% post-consumer recycled plastic in its keyboard caps, and about 30% in other parts, such as the top and bottom cover and screen bezels. Toward the end of 2021, the company expanded its Vero portfolio across a variety of devices.
The IDC said PC demand is expected to remain robust this year as uncertainty about future pandemic outbreaks means businesses, schools and consumers will want to be ready for another lockdown. Another factor that could drive growth is the digitization of business, growth in e-commerce will drive more spending from private sector.
Acer seeks to diversify its portfolio mix and expand new businesses, such as acerpure, Altos, HSN and Acer Gaming. It will also improve value creation and enhance the consumer journey. Acer will also continue to set lofty goals to reduce its carbon emission and create more environmentally-friendly tech products.
“Acer’s goal in 2022 is to optimally perform within core business competencies while we transform to prepare for areas of future growth,” said Ong-Lim.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.
