The company said the traditional PC market — which includes desktops, workstations and notebooks — had seen shipments of 826,000 units, with notebooks growing 21.7% year-on-year, while desktops fell by 15.1%

Commercial PC shipments grew by 18.3% while consumer PCs saw a 5.2% increase.

“With COVID-19 came a surge in demand for notebooks as schools and businesses scrambled to work and learn from home," said Liam Landon, associate market analyst at IDC New Zealand.

"This was then followed by increased demand in the consumer market, as savings from lockdowns and a lack of international tourism meant consumers had greater discretionary incomes and a need for entertainment and online learning.

“As businesses move to recovery, there remains a requirement for greater focus on business continuity and mobility.

"This has meant that businesses and schools continue to move fleets onto notebooks and ensures that in commercial segments notebooks have stayed in high demand, while desktops have continued to decline.

"However, demand around the world has seen similar increases which has led to shortages and an inability to fulfil all of the demand within the local market.”

The shortage of components, mostly monitors, saw the fourth quarter figures fall by 9.1% year-on-year.

“The commercial market managed slight growth thanks to ongoing education demand. However supply shortages hindered the market and dragged other segments to declines," said Landon.

"Another bright spot within the market was branded gaming which has seen an uptick as consumers shift entertainment channels. The decline seen in 2020Q4 makes the record year of 2020 even more extraordinary.”

HP regained the top spot in the final quarter and also shipped the most units in the third quarter. Next was Acer, which benefitted from a strong shipment of Chromebooks capitalising on education demand. Lenovo was in third position.

This year, IDC said the commercial market would hit a slowdown while the consumer market would grow as households started using one device per person.

The first quarter of 2021 is forecast to see growth of 3.3% driven by persisting demand for consumer devices.

"However, the market is restrained by limited supply and the commercial market is expected to decline marginally, with businesses being cautious with spending," IDC said.