Two technology enthusiasts on Sunday expressed concerns over the increasing cost of purchasing laptops and their accessories.
The tech experts said in separate interviews in Lagos that the high cost of laptops had greatly affected patronage.
Mr Austin Agbakor, the Chief Executive Officer, Software Shop Ltd., said that the era of COVID-19 had popularised remote working, which had, in turn, increased demand for laptops.
“Many corporate institutions have been migrating their workforce to working remotely, since the COVID-19 pandemic and it is likely this trend is not going to stop soon.
“This has made laptops to be in high demand,’’ Agbakor said.
The chief executive officer said that the increased demand for laptops was, however, not accompanied by increase in its supply.
According to him, the unstable foreign exchange rate is responsible for making the supply of laptops less than demand.
He said that in Nigeria, the unstable exchange rate is a factor that affects the cost of laptops which most dealers have to contend with and, which was making them run into losses.
“For me, basically, inflation is our major problem and I believe some dealers may run into huge losses and indebtedness due to the unstable exchange rate.
“A dealer takes a product at the rate of N705 per USD and sells at such rate with little interest only to go back and buy the same product at N805 per USD. That is a major loss for the dealers.
‘’This is one of the major factors affecting the cost of laptops,’’ he said.
Agbakor further highlighted cost of production of the laptops as another factor responsible for hike in its price.
He said that Nigeria did not produce computer components, rather it imports; so cost of production and shipping was another factor.
“No part of a computer board is manufactured in Nigeria and many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are only branding and assembling locally and not manufacturing.
“The possibility of laptop prices falling is slim as a result of hi-tech research on laptop and increasing cost of technology,’’ the tech expert added.
Agbakor noted that in the last three months, especially, the prices of laptops had skyrocketed.
He said that a HP SPECTRE X360 laptop which had sold for N890,000 three months ago, now cost N1,025,000; a HP PAVILLION X360 laptop which had sold for N350,000 now went for N452,000.
According to him, an HP PAVILLION 15-EG2153 laptop which was sold for N480,000 now goes for N587,000.
Mr Oluwatosin Osoba, the Chief Executive Officer, QKIT Technologies, agreed that increased demand ahead of supply, foreign exchange rate, inflation, and cost of import duties are factors affecting costs of laptop.
Osoba urged the government to urgently attend to encouraging local production of laptops and to also ensure a conducive environment for production to thrive.
He stressed that ensuring an adequate supply of power for companies was a must if laptop buyers were to enjoy reduced or stable laptop prices.
He noted that with the high cost of living and low earnings, patronage of laptops would continue to be greatly affected, unless something was done to remedy the situation.
