Lenovo eyes 20% growth in consumer PC biz, bets big on premium

Chinese tech major Lenovo expects to clock 18-20 per cent growth this fiscal in its consumer PC business, driven by its premium products portfolio.
Interestingly, the consumer PC market in India has been relatively flat over the past few quarters as more customers opt for high-end smartphones over laptops.
"We are refreshing our entire line up with a heavy focus on the design element. While we will play across price points, there will be emphasis on premium categories like gaming, thin and light and convertible form factors," Lenovo India Executive Director (Consumer) Rajesh Thadani told PTI.
He added that the premium PC category has seen significant traction in India, growing from 6 per cent about two years ago to now accounting for about 12 per cent of the consumer market.

Lenovo, however, does not disclose revenue details for individual countries.
"Premium category accounts for about 10 per cent of our sales. We would definitely want to grow that to 12 per cent, if not beyond," Thadani said.

According to research firm IDC, the consumer PC market -- desktops and laptops -- registered a shipment of 1.05 million units in January-March 2017 quarter, with 14.5 per cent growth over the same period last year.
The same report ranked Lenovo at the third spot -- after HP and Dell -- with 17.7 per cent market share of the India PC market (consumer and commercial).

Lenovo today launched a new range of notebooks, priced between Rs 17,800-74,500. These include traditional notebooks as well as those dedicated to gaming and thin and light form factor.
"The premium segment business was growing at 40 per cent but with the new line up, we are confident of 100 per cent growth rate this year," he said.