As the pandemic swept across the UK, the country went on a technology shopping spree, fresh figures from analyst firm IDC suggest.
According to a report from The Register, IDC claims that four million new PCs were sold in the UK in the fourth quarter alone, representing a 58.5 percent jump year-on-year. A total of 439,000 desktops were also shipped, 33 percent fewer than in Q4 2019, while laptop sales surged by 90.8 percent, hitting 3.554 million units.
Liam Hall, Senior Research Analyst at IDC, told The Register that the “one device per household” idea no longer applies. It’s now “one device per person”, mostly due to the rise of remote working and e-learning.
The UK government’s initiative to supply devices to those in need also played a part, supplying UK households with thousands of devices since April.
Across the entire year, 12.15 million PCs were shipped in the country – an increase of almost a third (32.3 percent) over 2019. Notebook sales were up 54 percent, to 10.1 million, while desktop shipments fell 23 percent.
A high level of demand is expected throughout the year, it was said. The government has expanded its existing program, while small and medium-sized businesses are expected to go in for another round of refreshes.
