Computers, peripherals and software price indexes, January 2020
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Released: 2020-02-28
Purchasers paid less for smartphones, software and computers in January, while prices for computer peripherals increased. Computers include desktop and similar computers, laptops, tablets and servers.
Chart 1
Computer prices decline
Computers
The Computer Price Index decreased 0.3% in January.
Prices were lower for desktops (-1.2%), servers (-0.3%), tablets (-0.1%) and laptops (-0.1%).
Compared with January 2019, computer prices were down 1.5%.
Chart 2
Smartphone prices decrease
Smartphones
Smartphone prices decreased 1.0% in January and were down 18.3% year over year.
Chart 3
Computer peripheral prices edge up
Computer peripherals
Price decreases for monitors (-0.3%) were offset by price increases for printers (+0.2%). Overall, the Computer Peripheral Price Index edged up 0.1% in January and decreased 2.4% year over year.
Chart 4
Software prices decrease
Software
Businesses and governments paid 0.3% less for software in January and 0.9% less year over year.
Note to readers
As of the June 2019 reference month, the Commercial Software Price Index and the computer and peripherals price indexes are now released together in The Daily under the title "Computers, peripherals and software price indexes."
The computer and peripherals price indexes are a monthly series that measures the changes over time in the price of computers, computer peripherals and smartphones sold to governments, businesses and households.
The Commercial Software Price Index is a monthly series that measures the change in the purchase price of software typically bought by businesses and governments.
With each release, data for the previous six months may have been revised.
The indexes are not seasonally adjusted.
These indexes are available at the Canada level only.
Products
Statistics Canada has launched the Producer Price Indexes Portal as part of a suite of portals for prices and price indexes. This webpage provides Canadians with a single point of access to a wide variety of statistics and measures related to producer prices.
The video "Producer Price Indexes" is available on the Statistics Canada Training Institute webpage. It provides an introduction to Statistics Canada's Producer Price Indexes—what they are, how they are made and what they are used for.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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