Tablet Loses Its Fame in MEA Region – IDC

TechInAfrica – The latest research from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the Middle East and Africa (MEA) personal computing devices (PCD) market consisting of desktops, notebooks, workstations, and tablets, declined 9.1% YoY in Q2 2019. Furthermore, according to global technology research and consulting firm, Quarterly PCD Tracker, there were a total of 5.1 million units were shipped during the period.

Fouad Charakla, IDC’s Senior Research Manager for client devices in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa said that in the previous quarters, the decline was mainly sourced from tablets.

“While tablets still account for the highest volume share of all PCD categories, they are continuing to lose popularity at a steady pace. Weakening consumer demand was the main cause of the overall slowdown seen in the region.”

IDC’s research said that the highest decline in the MEA PCD market was in the Rest of the Middle East (RoME) sub-region in which Iran was the highest. Charakla explained that the US sanctions against Iran were likely the main reason for the highest decline in the country. On the other hand, Turkey also faced a significant YoY decline in PCD shipments which was mainly caused by the weak of the Turkish lira against the US dollar.

“Consequently, Turkey is no longer the largest single market in MEA, losing its place to Saudi Arabia, which was the biggest contributor to growth in the region during Q2 2019. A number of large-scale deliveries into the education sectors of the UAE, Rwanda, and Ethiopia were also seen during the quarter.”

However, IDC has revised its PDC market outlook as it has seen a number of significant initiatives happening in the commercial space.

“A large tablet deal expected to be delivered into the government sector of Kenya will act as one of the primary drivers of this growth. At the same time, although Turkey is still gradually recovering from the significant slowdown experienced over the past several quarters due to the weakening of the Turkish Lira, it is expected to perform significantly better year on year in Q3 2019, since Q3 2018 was when the slowdown was undergoing one of its worst periods,” said Charakla.

“With consumer demand continuing to falter, this will see 2019 become the first year for almost a decade in the MEA region where commercial deliveries surpass shipments for the consumer segment,” Charakla concluded.

Source: itweb.co.za