91mobiles Laptop Buyer Insights Survey 2022: a summary

Here are all the insights from our latest survey

• By team91 -
Published On: April 8, 2022

The laptop segment in India has seen a revival of sorts over recent years. In addition to existing players like HP, Dell, ASUS, and Lenovo, we have seen smartphone companies like Xiaomi and Realme enter the personal computing space as well. Meanwhile, Apple has established its dominance yet again by launching a range of Macs powered by its own custom silicon chipsets. All in all, we now see plenty of compelling laptop options in India that offer solid specs at almost every price range, from affordable to ultra-premium. So, we thought it would be insightful to understand what buyers are looking for in a laptop in 2022. We surveyed over 8,000 people to understand what people are buying today and why.

Laptop Buyer Survey Insights Survey 2022 by 91mobiles

We surveyed over 8,000 people to understand what laptops people are buying today, the aspects they consider important while choosing a new laptop, how they pre...

Section 1: Trends in laptop ownership

• Much like our survey last year, this year too sees HP and Dell dominating the market with roughly 56 percent of the survey group using laptops from the two brands.
• Lenovo comes in third with around 15 percent, while ASUS, Acer, Apple, and other brands each fall under 10 percent.
• Xiaomi hasn't been in the laptop space too long, so it seems people are still taking time to get comfortable with the idea of owning a Mi-branded laptop. The company has a 1.4 percent market among our survey respondents, a marginal increase over last year.

• The percentage of people owning Apple laptops increased from 2.6 percent to 4.3 percent between January 2021 to January 2022, as per survey data. This is likely due to M1, M1 Max, and M1 Pro-powered MacBook Air and Pro models that have been launched in the market over the past year. Apple's latest Macs have received positive reviews for their performance and battery life, which are likely reasons people are looking to own an Apple laptop despite them being expensive.
• Notably, Dell and Acer have declined in ownership share over the past year. The reason is unclear but it could be due to Apple's gain. Avita has also dropped in ownership, possibly because of negligible marketing and lack of new product launches.

What do people want to buy next?

• We asked our survey group about the laptop brand they want to buy next. It looks like HP and Dell will continue to dominate with around 55 percent looking to own a laptop from either of the two brands.
• Lenovo and Apple laptops are next in line with roughly 12 percent each. What's interesting here is that Apple seems to be the biggest gainer in terms of new users while Lenovo will lose users going forward.

Brand loyalty among laptop users

• No surprises here that HP and Dell are the top two brands with the most loyal users.
• Realme and Mi, two well-known smartphone brands, seemingly enjoy greater brand loyalty than Apple.
• Interestingly, only 31 percent of Apple laptop owners are likely to upgrade to another Apple laptop. This means roughly 70 percent will be looking at a different brand when upgrading. This could be because of the high prices of MacBooks in India.
• Based on our survey, around 21.8 percent of Apple users plan to switch to HP-branded laptops. In fact, HP seems to be the popular choice for most people when they consider moving from their current laptop brand.

Section 2: Purchase

How people decide on a new laptop

• The COVID pandemic and work-from-home culture over the past two years have forced people to own at least one laptop in a household. In fact, 6.8 percent of the survey respondents say they own more than two laptops in their household.
• While almost 50 percent of people in our survey group own a laptop for professional work, the number of people owning a laptop for educational purposes is also significant. The coronavirus lockdown has forced children to study from home through online classes, making it important to own a laptop for schooling.
• Close to 60 percent of the survey respondents say they change their laptop only after 4 years. Meanwhile, two in 10 people are likely to upgrade their laptops within 2 years.
• The biggest reason people want to buy a new laptop is to own the latest device with newer specifications. The second biggest reason people upgrade is that their existing laptop doesn't work the way it used to. This likely means due to slowdown, heating issues, and battery degradation that are common as laptops age.
• When it comes to buying a new laptop, most people watch video reviews on YouTube before deciding on a new device. People also prefer checking out websites like 91mobiles and MySmartPrice for information on a new laptop.

Aspects that matter most while buying a new laptop

• As per our survey respondents, a majority feel performance matters most when buying a new laptop. Over 70 percent of people chose performance over other aspects like battery, storage, design, and display.
• Within performance, people look at the processor over RAM capacity, graphics card, SSD, and benchmark scores.
• Intel dominates in the processor department, with 8 out of 10 people having heard of the chipmaker over other brands. Apple is slowly gaining footing here with more and more people knowing about Apple's custom CPUs.
• Over 50 percent of survey respondents prefer Intel-branded laptops, while Apple's M1 series-powered Macs come in second in terms of preference.

How people prefer to purchase a new laptop

• A majority of our survey takers said they own a laptop that is priced between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000. This seems to be the sweet spot for consumers looking for a capable daily work laptop without spending a lot of money. This is also the segment that brands like Xiaomi and Realme are heavily targeting.
• Compared to last year, however, more people are buying laptops priced over Rs 50,000. It seems people are willing to invest more money on a good laptop for working, consuming media, and educational purposes as working from home continues to stay the norm in 2022.
• Five out of 10 people prefer paying the full amount up front when buying a laptop while one in four people prefer buying a laptop on EMI using a debit or credit card.

Demographic trends

• Apple and Xiaomi are popular brands for laptop buyers below the age of 18, according to our survey. Both the brands are known for offering sleek and lightweight laptops, which seem to be ideal features for school-going kids.
• HP, Acer, and Apple are more popular among women while ASUS and Dell are popular among men.