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In July – August 2023 buyers most often chose laptops without a pre-installed operating system, with a diagonal of 14-16 inches, said Alexey Barov, CEO of the OFD Platform. These are devices for solving basic tasks, he explains. It is convenient to install domestic office applications or other inexpensive software for the needs of the user. The average price of a laptop purchased increased by 15% compared to the same period last year, amounting to 53,969 rubles. The number of purchases during this time increased by 21%, according to the data of the OFD Platform.

The most popular laptops were brands from China and Taiwan in the middle price segment, such as Lenovo, Huawei, Asus, Acer, and MSI, said Barov. At the same time, demand for A-brands and the share of MacBook and HP declined, he added. Russian brands are also finding their niche, primarily in the low and medium-price segment, says Barov: In particular, interest in Irbis, iRU, and Raybook has increased by 30% year-on-year.

"Today, domestic companies collectively occupy about 5% of the market. Russian-made laptops are presented mainly in the middle and low-price segments, but compared with competitors, they differ favorably in price. In addition, they are provided with guaranteed service support and have good performance sufficient to perform all basic functions," said Artur Makhlayuk, a business analyst at the IT holding company F+ tech–Marvel.

"The increase in spending on laptops was facilitated both by the increased price trend in most categories of gadgets against the background of the exchange rate volatility of July – August, and by active demand due to the approach of the school year and the business season," Barov concluded.

The press service of M.video-Eldorado reported that on the eve of the new academic year, unit sales of laptops showed an increase of 25% year-on-year and even exceeded the figures of 2021. The average check year-to-year in the chain's stores amounted to 55,000 rubles. "The positive dynamics were influenced by the stabilization of the situation with the assortment, the emergence of new manufacturers, as well as special discounts and promotions launched before the Knowledge Day," the representative of the retailer confirmed. At the same time, the demand for software from Russian developers, in particular for office applications "P7-office", Uncom OS Home, "Red OS", as well as antivirus products from Kaspersky Lab, has doubled.

The landscape of brands represented in Russia has changed – American brands such as Apple, Dell, and HP have left, Asus, Acer, and other Asian brands have stopped supplying, the representative of Ozon recalled. Their place was quickly taken by new Asian brands – Maibenben, Thunderrobot, Infinix, etc., as well as Russian manufacturers Digma, F+, Irbis, etc., he added. Wildberries customers most often choose models for work and study from Acer, HP, and Infinix costing from 35,000 to 45,000 rubles.

Despite the departure of Western vendors, the Russian retail network re: Store that sells only Apple products, the demand for a MacBook increased by 275% before the start of the new school year. "The demand and sales of portable devices are still influenced by the factor of remote work, and even those people who have returned to offices or work in a hybrid, today prefer to have their own devices," said the director of the network of hardware and electronics stores re: Store Rasim Lemberansky.

According to Makhlayuk, the average cost of a laptop in July 2023 compared to the same month last year increased from 58,400 to 61,100 rubles, and in August – from 56,000 to 63,000 rubles. In general, 1.49 million laptops were sold in Russia in the first half of 2023 and 1.6 million in the same period of 2022, he said. The most popular brands were MSI (market share – 19.6%), Huawei (12%) and Asus (10.4%).

Editor-in-Chief Ferra.ru Evgeny  Kharitonov confirms the trend, but "the market rather did not grow, but recovered after a decline of the same 21% in 2022 due to shortages and difficulties with parallel imports." After leaving the market of some brands, MSI became the main beneficiary in gaming laptops, which took away a share from Asus and Lenovo that went into parallel imports, the expert argues. VivoBook and VivoBook Pro have become "super-popular laptops of the middle class" due to the availability of models of almost all possible sizes – 14, 15.6, 16, and 17.3 inches – with powerful hardware, high-quality screens and an incredible number of complete sets, Kharitonov continues.

"Russian laptops will gradually become equipment for business because the government will legislatively stimulate such a transition, and retailers will not be able to provide mass stable purchases and full–fledged maintenance of corporate laptops in conditions of parallel imports," Kharitonov commented on the prospects of Russian laptops.

Competition among laptop manufacturers is now high, as there are a lot of Chinese players and a lot is imported through parallel imports, says Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily. "Russian manufacturers have prospects only if the quality level is comparable with foreign manufacturers, and the price is at least not less with noticeable marketing support from retailers," the expert says.

SHARES OF BRANDS AT THE MARKET OF LAPTOPS in 2022

Brand	Share at the market in %
MSI	16
Huawei	13
Lenovo	12
HP	11
Asus	10
Others	38

Source: GS Group

Total Russia’s import of laptops in 2022 was 3.38mln pieces. It was 29.6% less than in 2021. In 2021 total volume of laptops imported was 4.8mln pieces. 

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2023/09/01/992931-v-rossii-viros-spros-na-noutbuki?utm_campaign=newspaper_1_9_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti ; https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2023/05/12/974659-parallelnii-import-vivedut-iz-pod-dvoinogo-nalogooblozheniya