Wavering supply and demand sent PC shipments plunging 15.3% in the second quarter to 71.3 million units, reported IDC Monday. It was the second straight quarter of lower shipments, following two years of growth, and the decline “was worse than expected as supply and logistics further deteriorated due to the lockdowns in China and persistent macroeconomic headwinds,” said IDC. "Fears over a recession continue to mount and weaken demand across segments," said IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani. "Consumer demand for PCs has weakened in the near term and is at risk of perishing in the long term as consumers become more cautious about their spending and once again grow accustomed to computing across device types such as phones and tablets.” Though enterprise PC demand has been more “robust” than in the consumer segment, “it has also declined as businesses delay purchases," said Ubrani. Market leader Lenovo widened its Q2 share over No. 2 brand HP -- 24.6% to 18.9% -- with No. 3 Dell Technologies close behind at 18.5%, said IDC.

Balance is returning to the housing market, with sellers dropping prices “at a record rate,” mortgage rates easing and price growth slowing, reported Redfin Friday for the four weeks ended July 3. Homebuyers are seeing the housing shortage ease, competition decline and mortgage rates drop from their 2022 high, it said. For the week ending July 7, 30-year-mortgage rates fell to 5.3%, the largest one-week drop since 2008; they were down from a 2022 high of 5.8% but up from 3.1% at the start of the year, Redfin said. Mortgage applications were down 17% year on year in the week ending July 1, it said.

U.S. consumer retail spending on electronics and appliances increased 4.6% year over year in June and was up 16.1% from June 2019, reported Mastercard Thursday. Its SpendingPulse survey measures in-store and online retail sales via all forms of payment, it said. June e-commerce spending in a dozen sectors increased 1.1% year over year and was up 97.6% from June 2019, it said. June in-store spending jumped 11.7% from June 2021 and was up 10.7% from June 2019, it said. “Sector by sector, we’re seeing a varied picture of how inflation is impacting essential vs. discretionary consumer spending,” said Mastercard Senior Adviser Steve Sadove.

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 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.

The consumer outlook over the next few months “remains favorable,” said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Thursday, but a “one in three” chance of a recession will make 2023 “touch and go.” Though the U.S. economy’s growth is slowing, consumers are “financially healthy and the nation is unlikely to enter into a recession” for the rest of this year, but "a contracting economy short of a recession is not out of the question,” he said. Employment gains, rising wages and more hours worked will support household spending, Kleinhenz said: “Policy issues will likely be the deciding factor shaping the economic outlook this year and next.” Retail sales excluding cars, gas stations and restaurants were expected to drop in May but fell just 0.3% from April and grew 6.7% year on year (see 2206150025), he noted; sales were up 7.3% for the first five months of the year. Overall household spending is expected to rise 9% next year, said the economist. “As COVID-19 eases, consumers are rebalancing their spending and adjusting shopping habits,” Kleinhenz said, noting spending on restaurants, recreation and transportation are “on the upswing” at 17.5% year on year in May.

U.S. smart speaker ownership grew nearly 40% since 2020, as smart speakers are “securing their footing” at the center of the connected network “ecosystem,” reported NPD Tuesday. Smart speaker owners “over index” in adoption of other connected technology categories and digital voice assistant usage, it said. NPD found smart speaker owners are 35% more likely than the total market to own home automation devices, 26% more likely to own a streaming media player, and 21% more likely to own a smart TV, it said. “Smart speaker owners also use device voice commands at a higher rate than other device owners -- with 91% of smart speaker owners noting they use the device’s voice commands, while only 72% of smartphone owners use voice control capabilities,” said NPD.

Consumer intentions on buying new TV sets declined sharply in June, compared with May, according to preliminary Conference Board data released Tuesday. Analytics company Toluna canvassed 5,000 U.S. homes for the board through June 22, finding 10.2% plan to buy a new TV set in the next six months, down from 11.4% in May, 11.3% in April and 11.6% in June 2021. Consumer confidence fell for the second straight month in June, and the board’s “expectations index” -- a measure of consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions -- fell to its lowest value in nearly a decade, said the board: “Consumers’ grimmer outlook was driven by increasing concerns about inflation, in particular rising gas and food prices.” The numbers suggest weaker growth in the second half of 2022, plus a “growing risk of recession by year-end,” it said.

Though more than half of consumers canvassed globally said they have been a victim of online fraud or know someone who has, most respondents say they expect their online activity will increase in the next three months, reported Experian Thursday. The information services company polled more than 6,000 consumers in 20 countries, including the U.S., finding nearly three-quarters “expect businesses to take the necessary security steps to protect them online,” it said. More than eight in 10 consumers canvassed said security “is their most important factor of the online experience,” it said. More than 95% of baby boomers cited security as the most important aspect of their online experience, 10 points more than their Generation Z counterparts, it said.

Despite a consumer spending shift from home-based goods to entertainment and travel, high prices are making a dent in summer travel plans, reported Adobe Tuesday. Online prices for domestic flights in May were 30% over 2019 levels, it said. It was the fourth consecutive month of higher ticket prices vs. pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. Online domestic bookings for summer travel are down 2% in 2022 through May vs. the first five months of 2019, but spending is up by 11% for the period, showing the impact of higher fares, Adobe said. Domestic flight bookings in May accounted for $8.3 billion, up 6.2%, from April, it said. Adobe measures direct consumer transactions from six of the top 10 U.S. airlines and over 150 billion web visits.

As the latest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic takes shape, U.S. consumers are returning to pre-2020 patterns of time spent with connected devices, said eMarketer Friday. “TV is making a comeback via the shift to connected TV," said analyst Jessica Lis. Mobile will get a third of the time U.S. adults will spend with media this year, Lis said. On average, adults will spend 4 hours, 30 minutes daily using mobile devices for nonvoice activities in 2022 and 3 hours, 7 minutes per day watching traditional TV, she said. The augmented reality user base in the U.S. will reach 97.1 million by the end of next year, eMarketer said, saying smartphones could lose usage time to dedicated AR devices. Some 63% of AR users will experience content via social media this year, it said.