The market for PCs, tablets and smartphones will take another big dive this year. The post-corona revival has stalled again due to a turbulent supply, war and lockdowns in China.
Gartner expects the PC market to fall 9.5 percent this year. Not a big surprise from their April readings when the market analyst noted a 7.7 percent drop. That was then due to the contrast of a strong resurgence during corona in 2021. Now, a combination of a shaky supply chain, the war in Ukraine and lockdowns in China, makes production uncertain and demand is also decreasing.
Globally, the impact is heaviest on the consumer market, which is declining by 13.1 percent. In the business market, the decrease is 7.2 percent. Specifically for EMEA, the overall decline is even greater, with 14 percent fewer PC sales in our region.
In the tablet market, Gartner expects a 9 percent decline this year. Smartphones are down 7.1 percent. For the latter, Gartner mainly points to China, where the decline rises to 18.3 percent. There, too, Gartner points to local lockdowns, causing many consumers to postpone non-essential purchases such as smartphones.
The contrast is stark: last year the number of 5G smartphones in China increased by 65 percent. This year, sales are down 2%. Gartner does expect this to recover in 2023 as people replace their 4G devices.