PCs, Mobile Phones, Tablets on Pace for Steep 2022 Declines: Gartner
PC shipments are on pace to drop 9.5% this year, the steepest decline of PC, mobile phones and tablet segments, said a Thursday Gartner report. The research firm cited “geopolitics upheaval, high inflation, currency fluctuations and supply chain disruptions" as…
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contributors, lowering business and consumer demand for PCs worldwide. Consumer PC demand will “plummet faster” than that for business, at 13.1% vs. 7.2%, said analyst Ranjit Atwal. Total PC shipments are forecast at 310 million for 2022. Mobile phone shipments are forecast to fall 7.1% year on year to 1.5 billion for the year, with smartphone shipments dropping 5.8% year on year. China will be hardest hit, with smartphone shipments on pace to decline 18.3%. China has led 5G adoption over the past two years, but the “collapse of the smartphone market” in the region will result in a 2% decline in 5G phone shipments this year, after 65% growth in 2021, it said. Atwal cited China’s zero tolerance COVID-19 policy, saying “large numbers of consumers stopped buying nonessential items including 5G smartphones.” Demand for 5G phones is expected to pick up in 2023 as consumers replace 4G phones at the end of their lifecycles. Tablets are forecast to decline 9% to 142 million units. Overall global shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones are expected to decline 7.6% this year, as China and Eastern Europe record double-digit declines, it said.