The demand for laptops, which saw its peak at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago, has been on the decline recently. Nevertheless, as one of the top consumer electronics categories, laptops remain an interesting proposition for all — be it the first-time buyer looking for an education-centric product, or users looking to upgrade from basic-spec utility devices to better-performing gaming laptops. Naturally, a number of brands are among the favourites of users, as found from 91mobiles’ user searches in the first half of this year. These make for the top 10 laptop brands — including runaway leaders in the top two brands, and a major gulf in class between the top five brands, and the ones that follow.
Top 10 laptop brands
The top 10 laptop brands in India, based on 91mobiles user search queries until the month of July, include long-time market leader HP at the top. Apple, which has seen an increasing market share with its MacBooks, enters the top 10 laptop brands list during this period at the bottom, while there are a few surprise additions as well. Here’s the full list:
2. ASUS
3. Lenovo
4. Dell
5. Acer
6. Infinix
7. MSI
8. Xiaomi
9. Samsung
10. Apple
HP
Not only in user searches on 91mobiles, HP has long been the most popular laptop brand in India by market share as well, as per data from market researcher IDC. The American brand offers a wide range of products, the most ubiquitously popular of which is its ‘Pavilion’ series of everyday use and productivity laptops. In fact, HP single-handedly garnered over a quarter of all user searches on our platform, thus topping the top 10 laptop brands list by a comfortable margin.
The company offers a mix of strong specifications, a neat but uniform design language, and highly competitive pricing as well, thus making it a popular choice among users. Some of its top lineups of laptops include the Envy range of premium ultrabooks for work, the Victus range of budget gaming laptops, and the Envy range of more powerful gaming devices. HP’s total share of all user searches for laptops in the first half stood at 27.7 percent.
Latest launches:
ASUS
Taiwanese electronics brand ASUS, once known largely for making some of the best motherboards in the market for assembled personal computers (PCs), is today known best for its ‘Republic of Gamers’ portfolio of laptops — aimed largely at gamers. The ROG laptops are among the best gaming laptops that users can buy in India, and its position as the second most popular laptop brand in India, among the top 10 laptop brands, is a testament to its products.
Alongside ROG, ASUS also runs everyday usage and productivity laptop portfolios within its offering, under its Zenbook and Vivobook laptops. One of the key things that the company offered in this segment is the introduction of OLED displays within an affordable price range, thus standing out with its offering. With 17.7 percent of all searches, ASUS outpaced other brands despite being some distance away from HP.
Latest launches:
Also read: Top 10 smartphone brands in India in H1 2023
Lenovo
Taking the third spot in our top 10 laptop brands list is Lenovo, which has been one of the oldest names in the world of laptops. The company’s ThinkPad series of laptops have been historically among the most popular in enterprises, and are particularly reputed for being super sturdy and durable in long-term usage. The brand is now owned by China-headquartered holding promoters, as part of a large conglomerate that also includes Motorola.
Today, some of Lenovo’s key offerings have included the Lenovo Yoga convertible series of laptops (including one that has two displays and no keyboards) and the Legion series of gaming laptops. The brand captured 15 percent of all searches in H1 this year.
Latest launches:
Dell
Yet another US veteran of the laptop world, Dell is a ubiquitous name in the laptop space as well. The brand’s Inspiron range of laptops has been very popular in the every day and education laptop space, while its Vostro series of enterprise laptops have also been very popular in the enterprise space. In the gaming segment, Dell’s sub-brand Alienware has, for decades, been one of the most aspirational brands to look out for — and has been one that has often come up with some of the most audacious products, albeit at exorbitant prices.
Dell’s ranking at the fourth of the list is largely expected, and in fact, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if it ranked even higher. With 13.2 percent of all user searches pointing to Dell in the laptop space, the brand closely follows Lenovo in user mindshare.
Latest launches:
Acer
Taiwan-headquartered Acer has been a long-standing name in the field of PC components and peripherals, and since laptops took precedence in terms of device shipments and popularity, has become a reasonably recognised name in the Indian market for laptops as well. Some of the factors that have worked in brand Acer’s favour are very strong specifications and timely launches with new generation processors and other features. Innovations such as a curved display on a laptop have further helped its cause. However, a not-so-flattering reputation for customer support likely continues to hurt Acer’s sales in India.
On the 91mobiles platform, Acer garnered 8.6 percent of all user searches, ranking fifth in the list of the top 10 laptop brands since the start of the year. While a chunk of this search is likely driven by Acer’s consistent launch cycle of products in the market, it remains to be seen how well Acer’s sales perform.
Latest launches:
Infinix
Infinix, admittedly, is not the name that you would expect to spot in a list of top 10 laptop brands. The Chinese brand, held by the China-headquartered Transsion Holdings, made its foray into the market with strategically priced smartphones — but has debatably not managed to ‘break’ into the top three or five brands so far. However, it has clearly piqued interest in laptops, with launches this year including the likes of the Infinix Zero Book and InBook X2 Slim — with affordability cited as a key selling point for it. The brand grabbed 3.2 percent of all user searches, from an overall user search base of millions.
MSI
Taiwanese brand MSI has been majorly known for its gaming laptops, components and peripherals. In the laptop space, it is particularly noted for making slightly expensive but top-notch gaming offerings with class-leading specifications, which go up to take on Alienware squarely. It has also been innovative, offering laptops that come with features such as liquid cooling, eye tracking, a mechanical keyboard and some of the best displays. Some of its top offerings include the MSI GS66 Stealth, GE78 Raider HX, Stealth 14 Studio, and more. It closely followed Infinix in H1 this year, with 2.9 percent of all searches.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi has been looking to make a mark with products outside of its smartphone lineup for a while, and it has used its mobile market reputation fairly successfully to make its smart TVs a recognisable name in the country. The brand also made a splash with its Mi Notebook series of laptops, which have helped it garner some recognition in the laptop space thanks to its overall specifications and strong pricing. Devices from the brand have included the likes of the Mi Notebook Pro series, pushing it to capture 2.3 percent of the market.
Samsung
Samsung isn’t really ranked as a top laptop maker, even though it makes quite a few rather decent laptops. This notion was further strengthened when the Korean electronics mega-conglomerate, largely driven by consumer electronics products, its chip business and the Galaxy lineup of smartphones, launched its Galaxy Book 3 series in India earlier this year. The brand therefore re-entered India’s laptop market with this product earlier this year, which likely justifies Samsung’s place in the top 10 laptop brands list based on 91mobiles searches. Overall, 2 percent of all searches pointed to Samsung laptops in H1 this year.
Apple
Of most brands towards at least the bottom of the chart, Apple is the most recognisable for its range of laptops — the fairly ubiquitous MacBook series. Somehow, it could only muster 1.5 percent of all user queries on the 91mobiles platform. One of the key reasons for this is likely that Apple buyers are mostly roped in within the Apple ecosystem, because of which they seldom seek comparisons with other brands in terms of overall performance. The brand is expected to shore up its MacBook Pro lineup even further in the coming months, while it has already introduced a 15-inch MacBook Air earlier this year.
