PC and Tablet Shipments Expected to Decline Throughout 2022
Supply shortages and recent lockdowns in China are plaguing the industry, IDC says.
Global shipments of PCs and tablets are expected to decline this year, thanks to a confluence of economic factors impacting their deliveries, according to the International Data Corporation, a market research firm.
Inflation, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and pandemic lockdowns have all negatively affected demand for PCs and tablets around the world, with global shipments of traditional PCs expected to fall 8.2% year over year, and shipments of tablets expected to drop 6.2% year over year in 2022, according to a new forecast from IDC published Wednesday. Only 321.2 million PCs and 158 million tablets are projected to ship this year.
"Supply shortages have plagued the industry for a while, and the recent lockdowns in parts of China continue to exacerbate the issue as factories struggle to receive new components from upstream suppliers while also facing issues downstream when it comes to shipping finished goods," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC, in a release.
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However, PC shipments are anticipated to remain above pre-pandemic levels and will experience growth in 2023, according to IDC's forecast.
Similar forecasts have been made about global shipments of phones and wearables dropping in 2022, with the attributed reasons also being COVID-19 lockdowns, inflation and the war in Ukraine.