IDC, a research firm, reported that PC & tablet shipments would fall into 2023. This is a further indication that global macroeconomic forces are having an effect.
However, there is some good news: the trend toward hybrid & remote work has the potential to maintain sales even if the economy shows signs of weakness. Experts agree, however, that rising prices due to inflation will bite into all those projected earnings.
According to IDC, traditional PC shipments will fall 12.8% to 205.3 million units worldwide in 2022, while tablet shipments will fall 6.8% to 158.8 million. IDC attributed the decline in demand to inflation, a slowing economy, and the spike in technology purchases driven by a global epidemic over the past two years. The company forecasts significant declines in 2023 due to sluggish consumer demand and falling education demand; it also predicts that business purchasing will be negatively impacted by general economic conditions. The PC & tablet market as a whole is predicted to fall by 2.6% in 2023 before recovering the following year.
“The demand is slowing, but the outlook for shipments remains above pre-pandemic levels,” IDC Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers research manager Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement. “Long-term demand will be driven by a slow economic recovery combined with an enterprise hardware refresh as support for Windows 10 nears its end. Educational deployments and hybrid work are also expected to become a mainstay driving additional volumes.”
In a statement, The research vice president at IDC’s Devices & Displays, Linn Huang said, “With Economic headwinds gaining speed, we expect worsening consumer sentiment to result in further consumer market contractions over the next six quarters. Economic recovery in time for the next major refresh cycle could propel some growth in the outer years of our forecast.”
“Though volumes won’t hit pandemic peaks, we expect the consumer market to drive towards more premium ends of the market,” added Huang.
Also, he said, “We … need to stay optimistic for the long term. When you look at the trends… the trends that define the opportunities that we see, those trends are changing. They will continue to fuel our growth and create opportunities for us to grow in the future.”
