The outlook for PCs and tablets is “worsening,” reported IDC Thursday, forecasting an 11.9% falloff this year to 456.8 million units. It expects further declines in 2023, with a 5.6% drop to 281 million units for PCs and a 6.7% decline in tablet shipments to 148 million. Shipment volumes remain above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, but they will continue to face challenges from macroeconomic headwinds, bloated channel inventory and high market saturation, IDC said. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for PCs is just above 1% over five years, minus 1.7% for tablets. PC and tablet makers “will struggle in the coming months,” said analyst Jitesh Ubrani, as “not only are volumes expected to decline, but so will average selling prices.” Near-term excess inventory is forcing OEMs and retailers to "heavily discount products," he said, and product mix is expected to shift from premium to mid-range products. The consumer market is being hit hardest; IDC forecasts a minus 0.5% CAGR through 2026. It expects a “strong refresh cycle” in enterprise PCs heading into 2024.

Black Friday weekend may have been good for retail, but the $133 million five-day domestic box office, through Sunday, was well below the pre-COVID-19 pandemic take of $262 million in 2019 and last year’s $142 million, said Rosenblatt Securities in a Monday investor note. Underwhelming results showed “we are still in recovery mode,” said analyst Steve Frankel, noting theaters didn’t suffer a lack of compelling releases with a “leggy Marvel title, interesting theatrical release from Netflix and an animated Disney title.” Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earned $64 million for the period, Disney’s Strange World, $18.6 million, and Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery generated $13.3 million for the first five days of its one-week theatrical run, said the analyst.

Pending home sales dropped 32.1% in October, their largest decline since 2013, with nearly 60,000 home purchase agreements falling through, reported Redfin Monday. Some 23.9% of homes for sale experienced a price drop, double the rate of October 2021, it said. Higher mortgage rates caused would-be sellers to stay put due to the “lock-in effect,” Redfin said, with the average 30-year-fixed mortgage rising 3.8 points to 6.9% in October, the largest monthly increase since 1981. New listings dropped 24% year on year.

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 kick-off Sunday, TV makers were wooing fans globally with enticements to buy TVs and interact with features and events geared to the four-week tournament. TCL said Friday it’s launching creative filters, games and challenges on Tik Tok and Kwai, and augmented reality filters on Instagram let fans show support for their favorite teams and players. The TV maker will have pop-up road shows globally where fans can gather in a “carnival atmosphere” to share experiences in person, it said. FIFA sponsor Hisense launched World Cup Daily Wednesday, on which celebrities, creators, influencers and soccer “legends” will recap the day’s play on a 25-minute broadcast with announcers from Eurosport, BBC and EA Sports FIFA Global Series. Content will also include archived footage from past tournaments. Hisense launched FIFA+ in April for its Vidaa-powered devices, making “thousands of free hours” of original, live and archived soccer matches available to viewers. World Cup Daily can be viewed via the FIFA+ app that's preinstalled on Hisense TVs, but it’s not exclusive to Hisense TV owners, a spokesperson emailed: Consumers who download the FIFA+ app can watch it on other devices.

Some 35% of global shoppers plan to spend less on holiday shopping this year than 2021, said an Applause survey Tuesday, citing “volatile economic conditions.” Results showed a “marked increase” in consumers returning to stores, with 82% saying they were comfortable shopping in stores vs. 69% last year and 46% in 2020. The percentage of consumers planning to shop online dipped from 91% last holiday season to 87% this year. On the point in the online shopping experience that would lead customers to abandon a cart, 29% cited bugs in the shopping experience; 34% referenced the checkout process. About 61% said they preferred using a mobile device to shop online, 37% preferred a computer and 2% said they preferred using a voice-activated smart device. In the Americas, credit cards were the preferred payment method by 56% of respondents vs. 35% in other regions. Brands are important to consumers, the survey found, with 62% saying buying a trusted brand is more important to their e-commerce experience than price (32%). The survey of 4,750 consumers was fielded in October in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Asia-Pacific.

Streaming service subscriptions and video game technology are among the top gifts people plan to give this holiday season, said CTA Friday. Some 78% of U.S. adult shoppers will buy tech products and services, it said, a 3-percentage point increase from 2021. About 192 million U.S. adults, 75%, plan to buy at least one content-related product during the season. Forty-seven percent plan to give video-streaming services, and more than a third plan gaming-streaming services. Some 61 million shoppers said headphones/earbuds were first on the list of most sought-after holiday gifts, CTA said. About 50 million said they’re giving smartphones, and 54 million said mobile device cases. Video game consoles, seventh on the list of popular tech gifts last year, are fifth this year, with 46 million shoppers planning to give a game player. About 122 million holiday shippers plan to gift a health and wellness tech product in 2022, it said.

About 66% of U.S. TV households have some form of live pay-TV service, with the percentage of TV households with cable, satellite, telco or virtual MVPD service down from 79% in 2017, said a Friday Leichtman Research Group report. Some 73% of adults 45 and older have a pay-TV service vs. 57% of ages 18-44, said LRG, and 46% of households that moved in the past year don’t currently have one. “The decline in pay-TV subscribers is not solely a function of those disconnecting services, but is also related to a slowdown in those entering or reentering the category,” said LRG President Bruce Leichtman. “Overall, about 10.5% of TV households last subscribed to a pay-TV service in the past three years, 12% last subscribed over three years ago, and 11.5% never subscribed,” he said. Households with more TVs have more pay-TV services: 73% with three or more TVs have pay TV vs. 65% with two TVs and 52% with one, said the report.

Consumers are deferring 2022 tech purchases until 2023, said Gartner Wednesday, saying inflation cut into consumer buying power in almost every country. Lower consumer spending will drive an overall 8.4% drop in device spending this year and an expected 0.6% slip in 2023, Gartner said. Enterprise IT spending is projected to grow 5.1% in 2022 to $4.6 trillion “as enterprises push forward digital business initiatives in response to economic turmoil,” said the research firm, calling enterprise tech spending “recession-proof.”

The global insurance market for PCs, mobile phones and tablets, home entertainment devices and cameras is expected to reach $193.5 billion by 2031, up from $59.4 billion in 2021, reported Allied Market Research Monday. The research firm cited growing instances of accidental damage, phone thefts, virus infection and device malfunction as drivers, along with a higher standard of living and surge in demand for innovative multiple gadget insurance services. Growth will be offset by a decline in PC sales due to increased penetration of smartphones and tablets, the report said. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the growth of the market due to lockdowns designed to reduce the spread of virus, the report said.

A combination of factors drove set-top box shipments to another decline in 2021, including the migration to streaming, market saturation, consumer cost-cutting measures and supply chain constraints, reported ABI Research Thursday. ”Subdued demand” will cause continued market “contraction,” with annual shipments declining to 195.2 million units globally in 2025 from 203.1 million in 2022, it said. ABI projects that shipments thereafter will “level off” at around 194 million set-tops between 2025 and 2028. “Vendors must adapt to remain competitive in a contracting market,” said ABI. “To counter the competition from streaming, particularly in mature markets, vendors should look to develop more hybrid set-top boxes that integrate streaming services.”