Tablet shipments continued to be driven by the education sector due to large tenders from several LGUs to provide tablets for public school students in preparation for the school year.
The gaming market was on fire for years leading into the start of the pandemic in 2020 and things only accelerated as most people were spending more time at home and in front of screens.
Despite early signs of slower consumer tech spending, purchases of wearable devices remained strong during the quarter as consumers once again ventured outdoors with the urge to track their health and activity.
According to IDC, Chromebook shipments grew 68.6% year over year with volumes reaching 12.3 million units. The tablet segment was a bit more tempered than Chromebooks but still managed to grow 4.2% year over year with shipments totaling 40.5 million units.
According to IDC's latest survey, almost half (44%) of the respondents indicated the willingness to pay the ransom in hopes of retrieving affected files, either internally or through insurance payout.
Elevated demand for PCs combined with shortages that greatly impacted the supply of notebooks led to desktop growth outpacing that of notebooks during the quarter.
Desktops, however, recorded a 6.6% decline as Internet café demand dropped significantly in markets such as the Philippines due to a prolonged period of forced shutdown in business operation caused by the pandemic.
According to research firm IDC, the Philippines smartphone market grew annually by 26.8%, bringing in 4.2-million unit shipments in the first quarter of 2021.
