Brazilian PC market hits new low

PC sales hit a new low in Brazil in the third quarter of 2015, according to numbers released by analyst IDC.

Between July and September, some 1,6 million computers were sold in the country, 37 percent less than in the same period in prior year. Of all units sold, 993,000 were notebooks and 607,000 were desktops.

According to IDC, the sales performance is in line with previous forecasts and reflects Brazil's economic and political situation. The local PC market has seen a downward sales trend since 2012 - when other devices that allow Internet access, such as smartphones and tablets started gaining popularity locally - but this is the worst quarterly result of the decade.

"We can even celebrate the fact that revenue fell by only 7 percent in comparison to the same period in 2014. Even in a sales slowdown, the average ticket was R$2341 ($586), a yearly increase of 49 percent," says IDC Brazil analyst Pedro Hagge.

For 2015 as a whole, IDC predicts a 37 percent decrease in PC sales with 6.5 million units sold, with a 39 percent uplift in the average ticket and a 12 percent revenue drop.

According to the analyst, the prospects for 2016 are not very positive either, as the government ended the incentives known as Lei do Bem ("Good Law" in Portuguese), which provided tax breaks to companies as a means to encourage local production of technology items such as personal computers - and therefore reduce prices to final consumers.